


How The Rose Works

by BottledLemon



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Background Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff, Meet-Cute, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:39:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27860117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BottledLemon/pseuds/BottledLemon
Summary: Weiss Schnee is a very stressed woman. She wanted to be a Huntress, but her Father and his company had other plans. So when she finally graduated Beacon with flying colours and became an offcially licenced Huntress, she didn't get to go on exotic missions to far away lands, she simply ended up in an office at the SDC headquarters in Atlas. After finding herself on a little buisness trip to the kingdom of Vale, she decides to try and take a break out of her usual routines and create more time for herself. She never expected to start a colourful romance with a cute weapons mechanic, but sometimes life throws a wrench or two in your plans.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 48
Kudos: 155





	1. Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to this little passion project of mine. This is my first major fic that i've written so please be gentle and forgive any formatting errors!  
> I hope you enjoy :)

'Come on Weiss, you can do this!'

Weiss gritted her teeth after narrowly avoiding a spear jab aimed for her throat. It was a close call, but she just about saw it soon enough to haphazardly dive out of the way with a roll, and perform a swift recovery back into a fighting position. She retaliated with a lunge of her own, followed by a series of rapid jabs. Her sparring partner managed to block the assault with calculated accuracy using her round shield, she continued to shield herself from the onslaught until an opening presented itself, using the time to trasform her spear back into its sword form. She put all of her strength against her shield and used her full body to push back against the rapid blows, managing to knock Weiss off balance. She used this opportunity to swipe at her legs with her sword from one direction, before spinning the sword in her hands and coming back around from the other side. Weiss suddenly found herself down on one knee, the swipes that conected with her legs had knocked her down and severly damaged her aura. She knew that she had one last shot before she lost the duel, so with her final ounce of strength, she elegantly leapt backwards to her feet and raised her Rapier. A small circular glyph appeared at the tip of her weapon, while a much larger version shone below the feet of her redheaded opponent. the other girl barely noticed the glyph and attempted to dive out of the way, but she was too late, and her body was caught and suddenly jerked up off the ground and suspended in the air. Weiss smirked, realising that she managed to grab her target. With a flick of her wrist, the glyph on the floor vanished and then rematerialised above the girl currently defying gravity. Weiss quickly performed a downwards swipe, and the glyph responded in kind, pushing down and catapaulting her target towards the ground with some excessive force. The poor girl smashed into the ground, her body started to shimmer and crackle the same colour as her crimson hair, signifying that her Aura had been depleted and she couldn't continue fighting.

The white haired girl smiled and sheathed her weapon. "Good match Pyrrha, I thought you had me towards the end there." Pyrrha reached up and gladly took the outstretched hand that was offered to her.

"Thank you Weiss, I must say you've certainly gotten stronger since our academy days".

Weiss had to fight to keep a grin from forming on her face. "Oh please, that was evenly matched and you know it, I just got lucky with my glyph placement is all" Weiss was checking her scroll as she was talking "yep as I thought, my aura was pretty much gone, one more strike and that match would have been yours."

Pyrrha just chuckled. "Well i'm glad to have put up such a fight." The two girls spoke as they made their way to the showers. "Do you want to go get something to drink? I don't need to head home for a few more hours." Pyrrha asked.

"That sounds lovely!" Was Weiss' reply, glad that their meet up had gone well.

The two friends conversed as they travelled to a local coffee shop that Weiss was familiar with. It had been a while since Weiss had seen her old teamate, and she was eager to catch up with what had been going on in her life. They sat opposite eachother after grabbing their drinks, Weiss had her usual, a black coffee with an extra shot. Phrrya meanwhile had opted for something a little more flavourful, a small but humble vanilla latte. "So, how has Jaune been recently? It's been a while since I last spoke to him"

"Oh he's been fine thank you. In fact ever since we moved to Argus he's been in a much better mood" Pyrrha smiled at the thought "I even heard him say that he misses you."

Weiss just chuckled at that "oh that big softie. Well i'd love to come and visit someday, if you two would have me" Weiss suddenly felt a pang of guilt "oh gosh I just realised that I forgot to get you guys a housewarming gift!"

Pyrrha let loose a reassuring smile "honestly Weiss it's ok, just seeing you and meeting up has been a gift enough."

"Well I sincerely wish we could do this more often, but things have only been getting busier and busier at work" Weiss was speaking a half truth. Sure things HAD been getting busy at the Schnee Dust Company, her fathers buisness that she was 'lucky' enough to be chosen to inherit. But any free time she did have she had spent training and honing her skills as a huntress, the job she always secretly wanted to do. She always chastised herself for spending her free time on just creating more work for herself, but it was something the girl was working on. In fact that's one of the main reasons she and Pyrrha had even met up today. This wasn't the first time her friend had been passing through Vale, but normally Weiss would wind up making some excuse about being too busy to spend time with her.As part of her "I need to give some time to myself" routine she had actually arranged to meet with Pyrrha the next time she found herself in Vale, much to the womans happiness. However since Weiss hadnt really spoken to people outside of a work setting for quite some time, she decided that a quick sparring match at the gym would be the best way to try and reconnect with an old friend. She was very glad Pyrrha was understanding. And competetive.

"Weiss, I noticed during our little match that your weapon had some trouble with the launching mechanism for your dust." Weiss winced at the comment, she had hoped that Pyrrha hadn't noticed. In hindsight with how attentive the warrior was, there was no chance of that happening. It's true that she'd been having trouble with her weapon for a few weeks now, but with her being stuck in Vale for business she hadn't been able to visit her usual Atlesian engineer for a tune up.

"Ah you noticed that huh? Yeah you're right, Myrtenaster has been somewhat...unresponsive as of late." Weiss let out a small frown. "However the man who usually works on it is all the way back in Atlas. Not to worry though, I should be going back in a few days, I can get a tune up then."

"Weiss, you know as well as I do that you can't preform as a Huntress correctly if your weapon only works half of the time, Especially with something as important as loading dust." Pyrrha explained. She was confused as to why Weiss hadn't gone to get her sword repaired sooner.

Weiss glanced down out her drink for a moment, quietly telling herself the same thing. She knew that Pyrrha was right of course, having a weapon malfunction in the middle of a Grimm attack would be potentially fatal. The truth was that Weiss was quite nervous about going to an unfamiliar weapons shop, especially since that would mean giving up her weapon to a stranger for an unknown amount of time, and that thought of doing that caused a knot in her stomach.

Weiss looked back up to see Pyrrha waiting for an answer. "I know that I need to get this fixed as soon as possible it's just.... I don't feel particularly comfortable handing my weapon off to some random engineer. I know it's silly..." Weiss trailed off.

"Oh Weiss that's not silly at all" Pyrrha responded with a smile "I can see where you're coming from. I have a solution though, you should go to the same place I do when Miló needs any work done." she placed her spear on the table to emphasize her point. "a little shop in eastern Vale called Opal's."

Weiss considered for a moment, she still had her reservations, her Rapier is incredibly precious to her after all. However if the great Pyrrha Nikos could vouch for this place then maybe it was worth her paying it a visit. After all it was just a simple dust chamber repair, she could entrust someone with that surely. "And you're sure this place is trustworthy?" Weiss asked with only a hint of trepidation in her voice.

Pyrrha place her hand on top of her spear "I promise Weiss, Opal hasn't let me down yet, she was always my go to while we were in Beacon. She'll take good care of Myrtenaster."

Weiss glanced up at the rustic wooden sign. OPALS' WEAPONS WORKSHOP. The name of the place was printed in big dark blue lettering, with a smaller subtitle underneath reading 'Quality weapon repairs and upgrades!'. The building itself was nestled between two much larger, more modern buildings. On the one side appeared to be an apartment block, while the other was offices of some kind. Weiss figured that the place must have a lot of business through word of mouth, because she thought that she never would have found it without Pyrrhas' suggestion. But in an odd way, she kind of liked the way the building was off the beaten track. Things like this always seemed more authentic, but that's only because she'd gotten used to the large corporate businesses that littered Atlas, and while she couldn't deny the quality of those places, the customer experience left more to be desired. Which is exactly why she was so excited when she opened the door and entered the place, a little bell ringing to notify the staff. The decor matched the exterior of the building, with dark blue and green accents staining the walls. The reception was clothed in a pleasant warmth, that eliminated the chill Weiss had gotten from wandering around looking for the place. There was a strong metallic scent that wasn't entirely unpleasant, and the sound of metal scraping upon metal coming from the back room. The grinding sound stopped and in its place Weiss heard a distinctly feminine voice shout. "Just a minute!" She had already decided that she liked this place, although Pyrrhas' recommendation was never in doubt, this was the first mechanic Weiss had ever gone to outside of her personal one in Atlas, so she was just a tad nervous about what to expect.

But the building had left a strong first impression, and the rest of the nervousness melted away when the source of the voice rounded the corner. It was a tall girl, probably around Weiss' age, with brunette bangs that had red highlights at the tips. The girl waved at Weiss, with the cheeriest grin she had ever seen, and greeted her in an equally cheery "Good afternoon!". This was a far cry from the cold monotonous greetings she came to expect from Atlas, or the bored mumbled greetings she got from other shops in Vale. This was a girl who enjoyed what they did.

"Afternoon..." Weiss replied, almost shocked, because Pyrrha had described Opal as being a 'Passionate elderly lady" and the woman standing in front of her, while certainly passionate, was definitely not elderly. Weiss was going to ask what her skincare routine was, but figured that was a little rude. "Are you...Opal?"

The woman behind the counter suddenly giggled, which caused Weiss in turn to smile at the bubbly demeanor she had. This is certainly not what Weiss expected when coming in here, but she wasn't complaining. "No not quite, my names Ruby, Opal's my boss! Do you need to speak to her?"

"Oh no not exactly, I'm just here to inquire about potentially getting my weapon repaired." Weiss placed Myrtenaster onto the counter between them. "it's been... playing up lately."

The mechanic suddenly went bug eyed at the sight of the rapier, and let out a loud gasp that made Weiss jump. "oh my gosh look at you! The design is so sleek and look at how fine the blade is! I bet you could cut through a B-" just as quickly as she began gushing about the weapon, she stopped and glanced up at Weiss, who had a shell-shocked look on her face. "Ahem... sorry, I get a bit carried away with weapons sometimes."

Weiss simply chuckled at the energy this girl had, she found it very refreshing. "It's quite alright, I happen to agree, it is a very good rapier, it has served me well for many years."

"Oh I perfectly understand the sentiment! I assure you, here at Opal's we take absolute care and attention of any and all armaments are placed under our care!" she let loose another award winning grin at Weiss "That being said, we would be happy to take your rapier and preform any repairs necessary! What seems to be the problem?"

Weiss was already explicitly trusting this girl. She silently thanked Pyrrha for the suggestion, Weiss knew that this meeting was something special.


	2. Fateful Commute

'Another day, another Lien' Ruby thought as she meandered through the streets of downtown Vale. She didn't HATE walking to work, on the contrary, she quite enjoyed it. It got her out of the house and she got to listen to her music in relative peace. She was so used to her short commute from her apartment to the weapon workshop she was employed at, that she often zoned out and just let her feet carry her to her destination. However this time something caught her eye. It was the front display of a TV store, a few dozen screens showing the same silent clip of a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses fighting a large horde of Grimm. Ruby stopped in her tracks to watch the screens with intent, resulting in someone banging into her from behind. The stranger continued past Ruby, saying something that Ruby couldn't hear due to her headphones blaring out a rock song. She shouted out an apology to the man, quickly turning her head back to the action. She turned back to the screens just in time to see a tall Faunus lady with a giant axe cleave a Boarbatusk in half, and then just as quickly swing her axe back around, smashing an approaching Sabyr with its blunt end. The camera then cut to a bald man who was firing rounds from an assault rifle into the crowd of Grimm. The man turned around and raised his gun, as if to start firing again, but when the camera panned around it was revealed that the Boarbatusk he was aiming at was too close to shoot at. All of a sudden, the rifle began to change, the barrel splitting open to reveal a large blade, the gun turning into a double handed sword. Ruby watched this unfold with awe, when suddenly every screen in front of her changed to a lady sat behind a desk reading the morning news. Ruby cursed under her breath, realising that the channel had just been changed.

Ruby let out a deep sigh, as she pulled her hood over her head and continued on towards work. The work of a Huntress was always so exciting to Ruby, ever since hearing stories and tales of adventure all throughout her youth from her father it was all she wanted to be when she grew up. It seemed that everyone in her family was in the same line of work, and as she got older more and more of these revelations spurred Ruby on. She was going to be a Huntress! Just like her parents! And her badass Uncle Qrow! Hell even her own sister Yang set off for Beacon Academy, the most prestigious Hunter school in all of Vale, as soon as she was old enough. However, a young Ruby soon found out that not everyone is destined for greatness. While she DID attend Signal Academy and tried her absolute best to become a strong fighter, she ultimately couldn't quite make it past initiation for Beacon, and just like that her dreams of becoming a badass Huntress like the rest of her family were dashed. Ruby finally approached the doors to her workplace, banishing the bad thoughts out of her head, she entered the lobby of Opals Weapon Workshop.

"Hiya Squirt!" Ruby was immediately greeted by her boss "Was wonderin' when you were gonna show this morning." she said with a playful smirk. Ruby couldn't help but smile back to the older woman. She liked Opal a lot, they had become quite good friends since Ruby started working here a few years ago.

"Heh, sorry Opal, I got distracted on my way here." Ruby replied as she headed towards the staff room at the back of the shop.

"it's ok Ruby I'm just pulling your leg, quick go get your overalls on, we've still got a few things to catch up on." Opal liked Ruby too, she reminded her of herself when she was younger, being fascinated with all the different weapons in the world and how they worked. Ruby got the job almost instantly after the interview, partially because she was perfect for the role, but also because there were no other applicants. Unfortunately with her little shop being so close to Beacon Academy, most of the people who are as enamored by weaponry as Ruby is tended to focus on the fighting part rather than the designing part.

Ruby placed her bag into her locker, and headed back out to the front of the shop, now changed into her work overalls. "So, what's up first today Opal? Don't forget we still have to install that new Servo for Nebulas' crossbow"

"Ah yes the bow, it's a good thing you remembered that, I swear I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached to my shoulders" Opal replied with a chuckle. "you get started on that, I'll finish cleaning up the mess from yesterday's little dust mishap."

"Sounds good to me" Ruby replied. "I'll call you if I need some help." Ruby made her way to the back room, fully prepared to start her day proper. In the corner of the room was a small work table, upon which rested Rubys pride and joy, a large red and black scythe of her own design. The weapon was Ruby's passion project through her time at Signal Academy, and it was the very thing that awoke her love of weaponry that has carried her to where she is today. She had affectionately nicknamed the scythe 'Crescent Rose'. "Sorry babe, i'll get back to you in a little bit, i've got a crossbow to fix" Ruby said softly to her weapon, as she carefully placed it onto the shelf under the table. She then proceeded to get the aforementioned crossbow and place it center on the table. "ok, let's see what I can do with you..." Ruby said to no-one in particular. She ran her hands around the weapon, delicately pulling apart all she could before resorting to her tools. With a flick of a screwdriver, she reached the part that had been causing trouble, a small set of gears that flipped the weapon in a way that allowed it to change forms.

It didn't take her very long to not only crack the source of the issue, replacing the servo mechanism with a new shiny part, which actually made the transformation process much smoother than it was previously. Ruby beamed with pride, wiping the sweat that had gathered on her forehead, she was proud of the work she had done today. The job was all but finished, the client just had to come back and pick up and pay for her new and improved crossbow, and that would conclude what Ruby considered to be a good days work.

"Hey Opal, i'm finished with the Crossbow, what have you got next for me?" Ruby had gone back out the front with renewed vigor, she always felt this way after her first repair of the day ready and raring to go for more.

"Actually Ruby, do you wanna take a break for lunch? I'm starvin'." Opal said in response. And in Rubys mind that was the best response she could have gotten, because with Opal in the back she had some free time to work some more on her Scythe.

"Uh I think i'll skip lunch for today, but you go ahead, I can watch out the front for a bit" Ruby said with a hopeful twinge in her voice.

"Alright Ruby suit yourself, just like usual, call me if you need me" Opal said with a wave of her hand, as she headed into the back room. Ruby stood at attention behind the cashier desk, at least until Opal disappeared into the break room. As soon as the coast was clear she rushed back to her table and pulled Crescent Rose out from underneath it. There was nothing wrong with her working on her personal projects in work hours, Opal has said as much in the past, but that didn't mean Ruby didn't feel guilty about it. However, she also knew the job well enough to know that this time of day would be dead customer wise, and while she had the free time she may as well use it. She had gotten a lot of flak from her sister Yang in the past about fussing with her scythe too much, but Ruby had insisted that there was always something to perfect, something to improve. To that end she placed her weapon on the specialized raised workbench, clamped it in place, and started to slowly sharpen the blade.

She had barely started the process, when she heard the little bell ring from the front of the shop, alerting her that a customer had entered the shop. 'Come on I JUST started, what are the odds?!' Ruby thought to herself in frustration. "Just a minute!" Ruby called out, wiping her hands and rising to her feet. When she turned the corner however, she stopped in her tracks and stared at the woman who had entered. Her pristine white hair flowed down behind her in an off center ponytail, and she was wearing a dark grey pantsuit, which frankly Ruby thought she was rocking. Ruby suddenly caught herself, she'd only been staring for a few seconds, but to Ruby she felt like she'd been there for hours. Putting on her absolute best customer voice, she let out a cheery "Good Afternoon!" to the woman, hoping she hadn't been caught staring.

"Afternoon..." the woman replied, making eye contact with Ruby for the first time. Ruby immediately felt her breath catch in her throat, as she looked into the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen.

From that point on, Ruby knew she was in trouble.


	3. Loaded Questions

"I'm glad to see you've taken such an interest in Myrtenaster, it's very special to me" Weiss said, her words almost having a double meaning, a playful hint that she wanted Ruby to be as careful as possible when handling her weapon. Thankfully Ruby didn't need any hints for that, she had been fiddling with weapons for most of her life, and any mistakes or accidents she made with them have been learning experiences.

"Oh i'll bet, there's nothing more special than a bond between someone and their weapon." Ruby said as she put on a pair of white surgical gloves, fresh out the box. Weiss let loose an internal sigh of relief. "So what does Myrtenaster mean to you? Is it a family heirloom?" Ruby was curious as to what such a well dressed business woman would be doing with a rapier in downtown Vale.

"Not quite, it was made for me for my 14th Birthday some years ago now, it has served me quite well." Weiss was proud of the fact that she has managed to keep her weapon is such good form for that many years.

Ruby's eyes lit up upon hearing that little fact, 14 was the perfect age for someone to start thinking about Huntress training. Which, in Rubys mind, could only mean one thing. "Are you a huntress?!" Weiss blinked. Just how much energy did this girl have? First she was gushing about her weapon, now she has this unbridled joy on her face about potentially meeting a huntress. However, Weiss hadn't done any proper huntress work for a few months now. As much as she wanted to stroke her ego somewhat, she couldn't bring herself to lie to Ruby.

"Not exactly, I mean, technically I am a licensed huntress yes but sadly I've been stuck doing office work quite a lot recently." She couldn't help but notice the slight drop on Rubys face when she said this.

"Why's that? I figure huntress work would be way more exciting than an office job?" Ruby really couldn't believe anyone who went through all the effort to get a hunter licence only to not use it to go on daring and exciting adventures killing Grimm. However, she sensed there may be more to this story than what's on the surface, Weiss had an almost wistful look, maybe she was stuck in this office job of hers?

"I'ts....complicated." Just as Ruby thought, there was more to this. While she was curious, she didn't want to push too far, maybe this was a bit of touchy subject.  
"That's ok, I understand if you don't want to talk about it!" Ruby summoned her courage trying to defuse any awkwardness.

Weiss breathed another sigh of relief, she didn't quite know why but her nerves were starting to get to her. "Thank you Ruby, I appreciate that." Ruby gestured back down to the weapon lying between them, attempting to move the conversation along, for both of their sakes.

"Mooooooving on, what did you say the problem was with your weapon again?"

"Ah well you see, there's something seriously wrong with, well, I don't exactly know what if i'm honest." Weiss' voice trailed off as she started her explanation "Everything seems to be working fine, however every so often something gets stuck in the internal mechanism, and any loaded dust just won't fire."

Weiss grasped the handle of her rapier, lifting it up so that the dust loading port was eye level between her and Ruby. In one deft motion, she flipped it open, drawing Ruby's attention to the cylinder that housed the dust cartridges. She noticed Ruby's eyes widen in panic when she heard the loud click the weapon made, and thought she'd jumped at the noise. Weiss quickly realised however that Ruby must have thought the weapon was still loaded, which could have ended up dangerous in the small lobby they were in. "Don't worry, I unloaded it before I came in here" Weiss clarified with some amusement.

Upon hearing that Ruby visibly relaxed "Oh man I'm glad you thought that far ahead, we had a guy in here yesterday who unloaded about 20 Fire cartridges at once" Ruby shuddered at the memory "We spent all afternoon getting the soot out of the carpet." Weiss chuckled at the story and Ruby swore internally that she would do anything to hear that sweet sound again. But before she could put on the charm, so to speak, Weiss directed her back to the matter at hand.

"So as you saw, the cylinder folds out perfectly fine" she said, slightly rotating her weapon to give Ruby a better look. She then pulled the trigger, showcasing the satisfying click which proved that wasn't the issue "And the trigger gets pulled just like normal, no sticking or anything." and finally she angled the weapon up and gave a quick glance down the barrel "On top of that, I clean the barrel every single time I use it, I know enough to know that proper care of your firearm is important." after running through her short list of potential problems, she carefully placed Myrtenaster back down onto the table. "I will admit I'm not the most well versed in how weapons are put together, but I am stumped, everything I've tried to do to fix the problem has found no success. I was convinced by a friend of mine to seek a professionals help."

"I'm hardly a professional...." Ruby muttered, with the unmistakable sound of a smile in her voice. "But I'll certainly try my best!" Weiss looked back up to Her only to see the younger girls brow furrowed in confusion as she pawed at Weiss' weapon.

And she found herself smiling, she was worried at first that any mechanic she would go to would simply be after a quick paycheck and not care. Or worse still, she would get recognised as an important figure and get some kind of preferential treatment. She would be the first to admit that being the Heiress to the SDC had both it's pros and cons. The absolute worst feeling is getting a fake conversation with people who were only being nice out of necessity and fear of backlash. But here was Ruby, who didn't seem to recognise her for who she was. She was being kind, funny and attentive but not because of who Weiss was, but because she was actually genuine and loved her job. "So, what's the verdict? Do you think you can figure it out?" Weiss asked, very hopeful that Ruby could figure out the issue with little fuss.

Ruby didn't reply straight away, still running her hands around the hilt of Weiss' rapier, seemingly admiring the craftsmanship. "I have a good idea on what's been going on with it, but i'll still need some time to be sure" Ruby said as she carefully clicked the rapier back into place, taking extra special care with this particular weapon, as it seemed as though it was incredibly precious to Weiss. "If you're ok with it, I can take it off your hands for the time being and see what I can do."

A bolt of anxiety ran through Weiss at that statement. She knew eventually it would come to leaving her weapon in the care of Ruby, but the idea of being without it even for a few days was still worrying. It made her feel defenceless. Exposed. But she couldn't let it get to her. Not this time, she was going to be mature about this. After all, if Pyrrha left her weapons here many times before with no problems, then that's all the reassurance she needed. "I suppose that would be acceptable, do you have any idea on how long your analysis will take?"

"I have some stuff I need to do for the rest of today, but I can make it my priority to look into Myrtenaster first thing in the morning tomorrow." Ruby smiled "After that it's a matter of finding, and then fixing the problem, hopefully that won't take me all day." Weiss nodded, listening intently. "So on that note, can I get your Scroll number?"

Ruby instantly froze in place, a blush forming on her cheeks. She didn't mean for that to come out that way at all. She looked over at Weiss to see the girl with a shocked expression on her face. Rubys first thought was that Weiss technically hadn't said no yet, but before her thoughts could run too wild she started to stammer out something that she hoped would fix the situation. "Uh..w-well what I mean by that is...that I need your number to contact you when I find the problem! That's all!" she said with a weak smile. 'Great going Ruby, you were doing so well too' she thought to herself. Thankfully Weiss just let loose a small giggle and pulled out her scroll. It was Ruby's turn to breathe a sigh of relief

"Of course, i'll give you my contact details for when you've finished looking it over" Weiss said, cool and collected as ever. "Thank you for the help today Ruby, I await your call." The duo said their goodbyes to eachother, and Ruby couldn't help but notice the slight blush on Weiss' own cheeks before she turned to head out of the shop.

A pool of hope welled itself deep inside Ruby, before she brought herself back down to reality. 'Probably just the cold' she thought. After all, she figured Weiss was way out of her league. 'yeah, definitely the cold.'


	4. Rest and Relaxation

Weiss stepped out of the warm comfort of Opal's shop, back out into the bitter chill outside. She shivered slightly before putting her hands into her pantsuit pockets and headed home. Despite the nerves she showed towards the end, she held her head high. Proud of having the guts to sacrifice her weapon, she really felt she was making progress with bettering herself. Only time will tell if her rapier will actually get repaired, but that didn't bother her at the moment, she was going to savour her little victory. She stopped off at a small bakery that she had visited many times back in her Beacon years with the intention of treating herself to one of her favourite treats, a big fluffy slice of carrot cake. After leaving the bakery, the cake safely secured in a takeaway bag, she continued on her way towards the centre of the city. As it turns out she had been out for a lot longer than she expected, the sky was an orange twilight colour as the sun set.

It wasn't long before she saw the place she had been staying at on the horizon, an imposing 7 storey building, very modern and covered in a sheer white colour, with large lettering running down the side saying SDC. The Vale Branch of the SDC wouldn't be the first thing that comes to mind if you were looking for a place to stay on a vacation. However in Weiss' case it was almost a no brainer, there was an executive suite that was designed with business trips in mind. Weiss could stay here free of charge for as long as she wanted, not that money was particularly an issue for her. But with it being in the same building she was expected to work in it made sense and saved her lots of time in the long run. She looked up at the tall building and sighed, knowing her suite was on the very top floor. And that the elevator was currently undergoing repairs. 

A satisfying _swish_ came from the glass automatic doors as Weiss entered the building. The man behind the desk in the reception glanced upwards, and Weiss looked back at him with a little wave. "Ah good evening Miss Schnee." he said with a warm smile "I hope you've had a pleasant day." 

  
"Good evening Felix." Weiss replied. She actually liked Felix, he was one of the few people who worked at this company that she felt had a real personality behind their fake polite persona "Yes, it was alright, as far as days go at least. I hope things haven't been too hectic in my absence."

  
"Nothing I couldn't handle." He said with a fake check of his nails, which caused Weiss to roll her eyes. "It's been steady to be honest, I got some mail for you, I had it sent up to your room."

  
"Thank you Felix." Weiss said as she glanced over to check the elevator, which was still roped off with warning signs. "Still taking the stairs today then?" 

  
"They were supposedly coming out to fix it up but I haven't heard anything all day" He shrugged. "Stairs it is i'm afraid"

  
Weiss just sighed, today had tired her out and she just wanted to relax in her room for a bit. "I'm going to retire to my room for the evening, if anyone needs me..." Weiss said as she started to head towards the stairwell. She stopped and shot a glare back at Felix. "I'm already asleep."

  
"Got it." Felix replied nodding at her. "Have a nice night Miss Schnee."

Weiss began trudging up the stairs, which were located in a tight stairwell which always seemed too cramped. The customers only had access to the first 2 floors of the building, the rest of it was all offices and of course the executive suite. The only way up past the customer floors was either the elevator, which was spacious and quick, or these little side stairs. She was lucky she never had to come up here with anyone else, it would be a tight squeeze. She was on floor 4, about halfway up the building, when her scroll pinged the little notification sound which indicated she had gotten a message. She pulled out her scroll expecting to see either Pyrrha's or Winter's, her sister, name pop up on the screen. But instead she was shocked to see that the message had come from an unknown number. She scowled at the scroll in her hand, her company had many measures in place to ensure that no spam or unwanted messages came through. She was already thinking of what to say to the IT people, when she stopped and read the message.

Unknown: Heyo! This is Rubyydhggy8y7

Before she could process the message and realise who exactly it was from, several more shot through in rapid succession.

Unknown: Ruby**  
Unknown: from Opals workshop  
Unknown: I just wanted to make sure I got the number right  
Unknown: Sorry to bother you so late! :)

Weiss looked at her phone blankly for a few seconds. She then shook her head and re-read the messages, a smile forming on her lips. She typed out a response and added the number to her trusted contacts.

You: Ah yes hello Ruby, you have the right number, this is Weiss.

After a moment of consideration she added

  
You: And there's no need to apologise, it isn't that late.

The messages weren't exactly what Weiss would consider "professional conduct", and she also noted how they must have come from Rubys personal phone rather than a company line. But oddly it didn't bother her as much as she expected it would have. She suspected it had something to do with the independent feel of of the shop itself, but also Rubys relaxed nature may have something to do with it. In any case, she was happy that Ruby had messaged her tonight, it made her feel at ease. 

Weiss had finally reached the top of the stairs. The room she was staying in was only a few feet away, and she could practically feel the weight falling off her shoulders. She turned the key in the lock and stepped inside, locking the door behind her. The first thing she did was move over to the large window on the other side of the room and close the curtains. The executive suite was designed for quick stopovers to save on hotel expenses while important people were on work trips. The furniture was the bare minimum, with nothing more than a couch and a TV in the main room. There was a kitchen en suite however it only consisted of an oven, a fridge and one countertop with a microwave. Since the suite took up the majority of the top floor, the lack of furniture made the space feel incredibly open. The bedroom didn't fair much better, there was only a wardrobe, a vanity and a large double bed against the back wall. The only saving grace was the bathroom, which to Weiss' surprise had both a bath and a shower, allowing for some variety. Normally this sort of would be enough for a few days, however Weiss has been stuck in Vale for almost 3 weeks now, doing various meetings and field tests for new dust applications. She was finally nearing the end of her trip, as her flight back to Atlas was in 4 days time. She was dreading heading back to the SDC headquarters as she has to do a lot of paperwork on her time away, but at the same time she would finally go back to the comfort of her actual apartment, so she was somewhat looking forward to it. 

She started going through the mail that had accumulated while she was away for the day, but she sighed as most of it was spam. The SDC could filter her phone messages and emails as much as they wanted, but they couldn't do anything about the literal mail. Throwing the mail into the trash, she finally headed into the bathroom for some much needed R&R. Weiss emerged from the bathroom wearing a long flowy nightgown, as she settled down on the couch to indulge in her guilty hobby, cheesy late night quiz shows.

The presenter of the current show was listing off some potential answers, as Weiss raised a fork with some of her carrot cake on it. But before she could indulge herself, she noticed an unread message on her scroll. 'That's odd' she thought, It must have pinged when she was in the shower. Upon reading the message, again from Ruby, she let loose a large grin. This girl was having an effect on her, and Weiss couldn't get enough of it.


	5. Trusted Company

Ruby watched as Weiss gracefully made her exit from the store. She stood there for a few seconds as the gears in her head began to turn. She knew that she would be seeing Weiss again soon, as she would have to come back for Myrtenaster at some point. And hey, she'd managed to actually get her number. Albeit in a strictly business setting. But Ruby didn't let herself dwell on it for too long. She picked up Weiss' weapon carefully and moved it into the back room where she placed it on the same table as before in the corner. She spent some more time admiring the sword in front of her, she was really quite impressed by how well kept it is. More often than not she would have to clean out the more detailed parts of a client's weapon, but it seemed Weiss kept hers in perfect condition. 

"Oooohh what'cha got there?" Opals sudden voice cut through the silence, causing Ruby to let out a small shriek of surprise. "Oh sorry, heh, didn't mean to scare ya!"

  
Ruby breathed a deep sigh as she recovered from her little fright. "It's alright, I was just in a world of my own there." Ruby explained, but she couldn't help but notice Opal looking past her at the weapon on the table.

  
"Oh I can see why, look at that thing, it's so elegant." At this point Opal had slid alongside Ruby to get a closer look at the rapier. "Such a simplistic design and yet even just lookin' at her I can see the balance of it." Ruby found the sight of the older woman fawning over the weapon pretty funny, since she had done the same thing just moments earlier. "Is this another one of your passion projects?"

Ruby shook her head "Not quite, a client dropped this of just a second ago. She seemed pretty proud of it." Ruby picked up the blade and gave it a tentative swing. "You're right, it's very well balanced"

"So what work needs done on it exactly?" Opal asked.

"Well she said that it's been having trouble launching dust cartridges" Ruby replied as she gestured vaguely to the base of the weapon. "I have a pretty good idea on what the issue is but I need a little time to figure it out." 

"Ok, just don't spend too long on it, we're shutting soon."

"Oh no don't worry, I was planning on looking at it tomorrow." Ruby replied putting Myrtenaster back onto the table slowly. "Besides i've still gotta clear away my tools from this morning." Opal smiled at her and proceeded towards the front of the building. Ruby took one last glance at her newest job before she started to clean up her workstation.

After changing back into her normal clothes and stashing her work uniform back into her locker, she said her farewells to Opal, and headed out into the bitter cold evening. Ordinarily she'd head straight back home to her apartment after a long days work but today she had other plans. She pulled out her scroll and gave Yang a call.

After a few seconds of ringing, a loud voice came through the speaker. "Hey Rubes!" Said Yang in her usual chirpy way, however it was so sudden that it made Ruby jump and she pulled the scroll away from her ear. Even with the distance she could still hear her sisters voice clearly "What's up?!"

Ruby lowered the volume of the call before replacing the device back to her ear "Hey sis." Ruby truly loved her sister, but her boisterous attitude could be a little much sometimes. "I just got off work, I was wondering if you're free for a bit, maybe we could get something to eat?"

"Yeah that sounds like a plan." Yang replied enthusiastically. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well since it was my idea, it's only fair I pick something up on the way to yours. Sound good?" 

"That works for me sis, make sure it's something tasty, i'll see you soon!" Yang said as the call ended.

If she was heading home, Ruby would cook something for herself. She always liked baking and cooking, and sometimes found it more fun than actually eating the results. But not today though, she put her scroll away and shoved her hands into her pockets, today was cold and she was tired. It was the perfect combination to forgo any kind of cooking and just grab some cheap takeout.

Ruby finally made it Yangs place, an apartment much like her own, except on the outskirts of the city. Mercifully, she lived on the bottom floor, as Ruby just wanted to sit and relax after a long days work. After getting buzzed in by Yang, she made her way to the front door. She tapped on it with her free hand before grabbing the handle and letting herself in.

Yang immediately stood up from the couch she was sat in and charged at Ruby, wrapping her in a big bear hug. "Ah Yang...can't...breathe!"

Yang let go and slightly backed up. "Sorry, I just haven't seen you for a while that's all!"

Ruby stared at her blankly "Yang, we literally saw eachother 4 days ago." Yang just grinned at her. "Anywho, I bought Mistralian food!" Ruby raised the bag of warm takeaway in her hand to emphasize her point, she got something spicy that she knew Yang liked "Should I wait for Blake before I start dishing this up?" 

Ruby noticed that Yangs smile slightly dropped. "Ah, Blake's not here, she's out training in the Forever Fall Forest tonight."

"Training?" Ruby asked confused "what does she need more training for?"

"She said she wanted to train her endurance, so she's doing a course with a seasoned huntsman, and tonight she's gotta pull an all nighter in unfamiliar territory." Yang put her hand to her heart "That's my Blakey, always prepared for the worst."

"Well I hope you've got an appetite, I brought food for 3 here." said Ruby with a chuckle

"Oh don't worry, I can keep hers in the fridge and reheat it when she comes back tomorrow."

"Ah yes i'm sure she'll appreciate reheated takeout after a long night." Ruby said with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Of course she will." Yang winked at Ruby "I'm like the best girlfriend ever!"

Ruby was absentmindedly dishing up the kebabs and sides that she had gotten from the take out, but upon hearing Yang say that she got reminded of why she came here tonight.  
Ruby slid a plate over to Yang and tentatively said "Um Yang, could I get some advice, from one sister to another?"

Ruby was nervously looking down at the table of food when she heard a large _slurp_ from Yangs direction. She looked up to see half a noodle hanging out of Yangs mouth, and when she made eye contact with Ruby she quickly slurped up the rest of it, getting sauce all over her face. She then smiled at her sister and replied "Sure, what's up?"

Ruby just burst into laughter, and any tension she may have had melted away. "Well, it's just..there's this girl I met at work today and she's really pretty and..." Ruby trailed off when she noticed a grin creeping onto Yangs face.

"Awww does my baby sister have a crush?" She said as she she put her arm around Rubys shoulder and pulled her closer.

"Gah!" The motion made Ruby jump "It's not a crush it's...well ok it is a crush." She pushed away from Yang, making her giggle. "But like, she's a customer, that's just too weird."

Yang took in a mouthful of food before she speaking again "Why's it weird? That's how people meet Rubes, have you spoken to her?"

"Sort of, i'm the one that served her." Ruby grabbed her scroll from her pocket and shook it triumphantly "but I did get her number!"

"You got her number already? What do you need advice for?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well technically I have it for work reasons, she left her weapon with us."

"Then message her already." Yang said nonchalantly, taking another big bite of food. Ruby couldn't help but feel like she wasn't taking this seriously.

"What?! Yang no, I can't just message her, that's exactly what would be weird!"

"Pfft!" Yang rolled her eyes "You'll never know until you try, besides how else were you gonna talk to her?"

Ruby looked down "I...I don't know"

"Exactly" said Yang with a smile "So send her something, at least make it seem like you're interested." 

Ruby thought for a moment. How were you even supposed to approach this subject? It suddenly occurred to Ruby that she hadn't ever asked anybody out before. Maybe a message was a bad way to go about it, after all she could totally just talk to Weiss when she came to pick up her weapon. But she supposed she would be too nervous even then. Before she could keep pondering, Yang cleared her throat. "What'cha thinking about?" Yang asked her.

"N-nothing" Ruby replied, very unconvincingly.

Yang cleary didn't beleive her "Uh-huh, sure, you looked awful deep in thought there little sis."

"Well it's just, what do I say to her? I mean, without sounding creepy." Sensing that her sister was clearly distressed here, Yang put on her most comforting voice.

"Well I dont think you'd be creepy by expressing an interest in somebody, like I said you never know until you try, and that goes for anything." Ruby was just hanging her head low, so Yang figured she'd take matters into her own hands. She quickly swiped Ruby's scroll from the side it was sat on and began to type out a message.

"Hey! Yang stop!" Ruby dived for her scroll, but it was too late, Yang leant away from her with half of her body hanging over the arms of the couch. Ruby gritted her teeth and then leapt from her sitting position to tackle Yang to the floor. She grabbed her scroll and wrestled it from Yangs hands, with the older sister laughing all the while.

Ruby checked the screen in a panic, only to see that the damage was done, and the message was already sent. The struggle had caused a few extra letters to show up.

You: Heyo! This is Rubyydhggy8y7

  
"Yaaaaang why did you do that!" She turned her scroll around to show Yang the message that was sent to Weiss. "Look at that, she's gonna think i'm weird now."

"Oh would you look at that?" Yang said with a hint of humour in her voice "Looks like you're going to have follow up with an explanation."

Ruby glared daggers at her sister, before looking back down and typing out some more messages as damage control. "You're the worst Yang!"

Yang was staring with admiration at her little sister. "I'm the best, trust me, you'll see." She truly was proud of Ruby, in all the time she had been at Signal Academy, and for all the time after, Ruby had seemingly been content with being single. She hadn't mentioned any crushes or secret relationships all her life actually. Yang at first was worried, but she soon came to realise that it must have been Ruby's choice, so she began to respect that choice. But that doesn't mean she couldn't be happy that Ruby may have potentially found someone she wanted to try and date.

The sisters were content to just eat together in silence for a minute, but it wasn't very long after that Ruby's scroll beeped, and Yang just knew that had been from her secret crush. But she feigned ignorance. "Oh, did you get a message Ruby?" Yang said in her most innocent voice. She saw Ruby smiling at her phone and didn't even need to hear the answer.

"Yeah..." Ruby slowly said while re-reading the messages that Weiss had sent her. She hadn't expected a response at all, let alone so soon. But she couldn't let her sister have this win, so she quickly put on a playful scowl and looked back up at her sister, only to see her with a cheesy grin "This changes nothing, you're still a meanie!" 

Yang laughed heartily at her sister's antics. "That may be so, but remember to thank me at the wedding." This earned an empty box of noodles being thrown at her face, which just made her laughing even harder. 

After both girls had their fill of food, they decided to turn in for the night. Ruby was too tired to head back to her own apartment, so Yang asked if she wanted to stay the night. Ruby was more than greatful, since they lived fairly far apart, and she was always happy to spend time with her sister. Yang offered her bed to Ruby, but Ruby insisted that she sleep on the couch since she was the guest. while she was led down drifitng off to sleep, Yang's words echoed in her mind. "I'll never know until I try huh...?" Ruby quickly grabbed her scroll and sent an additonal message to Weiss, one that she hoped would convey something more personal.

  
You: I look forward to seeing you again, hopefully i'll have some good news! :)

With a contented sigh, Ruby let her head down and let sleep take her. She wondered what tomorrow will bring.


	6. Routine Maintenance

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, and then immediately shielded them from the blazing morning sun. She shifted into a seated position on the couch and was tempted to sit there for a little while longer, but the sun was preventing her from relaxing. She stood up quickly, stormed over the window and pulled the curtains shut with a huff. After her eyes adjusted to the dark however, she turned her head to see the mess the sisters had left last night. Glancing at the bedroom, she knew Yang wasn't going to be up for a while. She sighed and got to work cleaning up the plates and empty takeout boxes. All the time she was cleaning she hadn't heard Yang stir once, which conveyed to her that she still wasn't awake. Ruby wrote her a quick thank you note, before heading out the door of the apartment.

She still had a couple of hours before she had to start her work day, so she wasn't worried about being late this time. But in that same vein it was still too early to walk back to her place, so she opted to take a bus back. She grabbed some lien from her pocket and sat on the seat closest to the front of the bus. about 5 minutes into the trip her scroll pinged and upon checking it she found a message from Yang apologising that she was still asleep, which made Ruby laugh to herself, she always knew Yang was a heavy sleeper so she didn't pay it much mind. Before putting her scroll away she subconsciously checked her old messages, and at that point noticed that Weiss hadn't replied to what she sent the night before yet. She suspected that it was just too late, maybe Weiss was already asleep? She selected the conversation, and instantly noticed the "Read" in the corner, which means Weiss had read it and opted to ignore her. The thought brought a sinking feeling to the pit of Ruby's stomach. She quickly locked her scrolls screen and shoved it back into her pocket, trying to put it out of her mind.

She stopped the bus a few minutes from her own apartment and headed out onto the street, thanking the bus driver on the way. Now Ruby was back home she became acutely aware that she hadn't washed since before work the day before. The thought made her grimace, so she headed into her bathroom to have a shower, shoving what she was wearing into a basket that was slowly accumulating a pile of dirty clothes. She left the bathroom, smelling fresh as a flower and wearing a new clean pair of clothes. She rushed around to collect everything she needed for work, before actually checking the time and realising that she was much further ahead of schedule than she had assumed, still having an hour before needing to leave for work. She sat down at the table in her little kitchenette, thinking of something to do to pass the time. She eyed a well worn notebook that was sat on the edge of the table, next to a pile of pens and coloured pencils. Ruby smiled to herself "Yeah, i've got time" she said to no-one in particular.

Opening the notebook revealed that it was being used as more of a sketchbook, as there was a number of little drawings of weapons littering the pages. Ruby skimmed through the book slowly, lingering on each page and thinking to herself. The first page featured a large red scythe drawn with what looked like crayons. ' ~~Crezent~~ Crescent Rose' was written at the top, in what looked like a childs handwriting. Ruby flipped the page to reveal another picture of the same scythe, but this time with a black accent to it. There was an double sided arrow pointing down to another crude drawing of a long rifle with the same colour scheme as the scythe. Ruby sighed in contentment looking at the sketch, long forgotten memories flooding back into her. She turned the page over again, revealing another drawing, this time of a lance with a stripy white and red pattern down its length. This was seemingly named "Kandy Cane". Ruby snorted and shook her head upon seeing it. She continued flipping through the book, with each new page showing a new named weapon sketch.

She stopped on another drawing that looked a bit like a normal orange boomerang, but with blades at the tips. "Endless Sunset" was written at the top of the page, on the reverse page was what looked like a rework of the same weapon, this time there were 2 of them lined up with eachother, and they looked smaller. "Good idea" Ruby chuckled to herself "But good luck trying to use them without taking your fingers off." Turning the page again, this time to an empty one, Ruby picked up a pencil and tapped the end to her chin in thought. She then started to draw. She was humming as she ran her pencil up and down the page. After a few minutes a new sketch adorned the page, one of a long rapier with a thin blade down its length. Its handle was covered with an intricate hand guard design with a blue sapphire in its centre. Glancing at the clock, Ruby dropped her pencils, leaving the notebook open to the same page. She then grabbed her things and stood up up. 'I'll have to finish you when I get back' She thought to herself before heading outside towards Opals. 

When she walked into the lobby Ruby said her usual good mornings to Opal. She stepped into the locker rooms and changed into her overalls just like normal, eager to start working as soon as possible. Walking over to her workstation Ruby cracked her knuckles and slowly pulled away the blanket that she placed Myrtenaster under the day before. Now renewed with a fresh mind, she could appreciate the fine detail that the weapon was crafted with that much more. After putting on a pair of black well worn gloves, She grasped the handle and picked it up slowly, wobbling it from side to side just to test the balance. She then flicked the weapon forward, snapping open the cylinder in much the same way Weiss did before. Ruby spun the cylinder with her free hand, watching it spin around. She furrowed her brow as it came to a slow stop. She stood in thought for a few seconds, before reaching over to grab a little wood box, which she promptly opened. Inside where a small row of coloured dust crystals. Ruby weighed her options, Finally deciding that ice dust would be the safest bet. She tentatively grabbed an ice crystal and loaded it into the weapon, pulling the blade back to shut the cylinder once again with a satisfying _click_. She picked up the rapier and quickly poked her head into the lobby, where she found Opal fiddling with the display weapons in the window. "Hey Opal, i'm just heading outside to run some tests." Ruby said with a smile.

"Ok dear, just be careful now." was Opal's reply. Ruby gave her a quick nod, and rushed out to the outside back yard of the shop, where the floor had been paved over with concrete. There were several metal test mannequins lined up along the back wall as well some target panels led down next to the door. Ruby donned a pair of goggles, a mandatory safety precaution for this type of work, and stood on the mark that was painted on the ground. She raised Myrtenaster up and pointed it towards the mannequins. Bracing herself ever so slightly, she pulled the trigger, and just as expected a bolt of ice launched from the weapon, impacting the middle target in the chest. A large chunk of ice formed where the target was hit, and Ruby looked down at the rapier in her hand with confusion. She hummed slightly as she re-entered the building, only to reappear a few seconds later with the box of dust in her hand. She folded out the rapier and loaded up 2 of the chambers with dust crystals. Ruby took aim with Myrtenaster again, this time with fire dust as the first shot. She aimed at the ice chunk and pulled the trigger once more. The bolt of fire launched without issue and collided with the ice, shattering it into tiny pieces. 'Great, that's gonna be a pain to clean up later' Ruby thought to herself. She was getting more and more frustrated, there didn't seem to be any problem with the rapier at all so far. She took aim again and pulled the trigger, Ruby braced herself for the second ice bolt to be released. But it never came, instead she heard a small click come from the base of the weapon.

"Huh." Ruby absentmindedly said out loud. She aimed and shot one more time, confirming it, the trigger had been pulled but the weapon hadn't responded. At least she knew there wasn't a cruel trick being played on her. She flicked open the weapon once again, expecting the 2 loaded crystals to be past the point where they should have fired, but instead found that the cylinder hadn't spun at all. It was still on the one she had loaded the fire crystal into. "Interesting..."

She unloaded the remaining crystals and went back inside, placing the weapon on the workstation. She reached underneath her table and pulled out a small tool bag, her hand darting straight for her trusty screwdriver. "Now let's see if I can sort you out..." she said as she moved the head of the tool towards the weapons cylinder, cautiously unscrewing it and pulling it loose. The part slid out with ease, and Ruby couldn't help but gasp in awe at how well Myrtenaster was put together. It was such a simple design, and yet it fit together so effectively. She almost couldn't believe she was trusted to handle it. It just made her all the more aware of how careful she had to be with it. Looking at the spot where the cylinder was supposed to be placed, she couldn't see anything amiss at least at first. She titled the weapon up, and she heard a small clang as something collided with the table, then a louder clang as it landed on the floor below her. Ruby cursed under her breath and shot down to her knees to see what she had broken. She found what had fallen out, it was a small piece of black shrapnel that had clearly been jammed in the cylinder space before being dislodged by Ruby. "No..it couldn't be this easy could it?" Ruby mumbled to herself. Quick as a bullet Ruby shot up and replaced the cylinder to its rightful place, then she dashed back outside and loaded the weapon. She took aim and pulled the trigger, this time her hand recoiled from the shot as a brilliant blue streak of ice shot across the yard. She shot again, a fire bolt launched and collided with the ice crystal that had formed, just as before. 

Ruby couldn't contain her excitement, she jumped up and cheered. Today was going a lot better than expected, she was ahead of schedule to put the next part of her little plan in action. 


	7. Exceeding Expectations

Weiss opened her eyes slowly, blinking a few times in order to get her bearings. She slowly sat up in bed, only for her face to get struck by a single beam of light coming through the curtains she had hastily pulled over the window the night before. She let out a yawn and checked her scroll for the time. It was late. Later than she would normally get up at least. She rose from her bed, twisting around and then lifting her legs up a few times to stretch her tired muscles. After stretching, Weiss strolled over to the window and casually pulled open the curtains, letting the late morning sun wash over her and pool into the room. She stood and admired the view from her top floor room for a few moments. Vale wasn't the prettiest place she had seen, but the city was still pleasant to look at, it seemed homely and warm. 

She gathered some fresh clothes for the day, opting for something more casual than a suit, and stepped into the bathroom. Weiss came back into the bedroom, now donning a thick white sweater with a matching combat skirt and a pair of black leggings. She was refreshed and eager to start her day proper. Doing what however, she did not know. All of her neccesary work has all but finished, and she still had a couple of days before needing to head back to Atlas. So in the meantime, she needed to find something to occupy herself with. Hopping on over to her small kitchen at the far end of the apartment, she grabbed one of the mugs from the side, a plain white one adorned with the SDC logo, and began brewing herself a cup of coffee. While waiting for the machine to do its thing, she leant over the counter and thought silently to herself. She idly opened a drawer in the counter, and pulled out a bunch of pamphlets that had accumulated over the years, aimed towards giving tourists something to do. Flicking through them, nothing paticularly sprung out to her. There was an ad for a Falconry Sanctuary that looked kind of interesting. At the back of the pile were menus for both grimy takeaways and high end resturants, neither of which caught Weiss' attention. She'd never be caught dead eating at a takeaway, and all the resturants she had already scoped out when she was at Beacon. And since coming back to Vale she was eating out almost every day, as she never much had the capacity for cooking. 

Sighing, she turned on the spot and grabbed her cup of coffee, blowing on it and giving it a tentative sip. She stuffed the ads back into the drawer, setting aside the falconry ad, and went to sit down on the couch for a while. After a few minutes of skimming through the channels on the TV, she decided that there was not much of note worth watching and switched it off with a huff. She finished off her coffee, and placed her mug into the sink, joining the plate and fork from the night before. Re-entering her room, Weiss sat on her bed and slipped on some knee length white boots. She reached down to the side of her bed and felt around for a second. After she couldnt feel what she was looking for, she frowned. She then walked over to the wardrobe on the other side of the room and opened the doors, mild concern on her face. She shuffled the clothes inside the wardrobe around, her pace quickening with every passing second. Turning on her heels, Weiss ran back into the main room, sending a quick glance to the couch, before rushing over to it and pulling up the cushions. She then quickly fell to the floor, looking under the coffee table. After a fruitless search there Weiss rushed back over to the kitchen. "Come on come on where is it?!" Weiss said frantically as she began scouring the floors and under cabinets.

But just as fast as she began to panic, she stopped. Standing up and smoothing her skirt, a bright red blush forming on her cheeks. It all came back to her. The repairs. Opals'. Ruby. She breathed a sigh of relief, having finally remembered that she left Myrtenaster at the shop last night. Taking a quick glance at the mess the apartment was in, she laughed to herself, at how silly she just acted. She decided she was going to clean the mess up later, after she came back home. For now thought she quickly slipped and buttoned up a beige overcoat, and headed out of the apartment. She made sure to say goodbye to Felix on her way out, leaving the SDC behind her for the day. While walking through the crowded Vale streets she became acutely aware that she didn't have her weapon on her. In fact it had been a number of months since she had last left home without it at all.

She knew she wasn't entirely reliant on Myrtenaster for combat. With her acrobatic skills and glyphs always on hand. But that didn't entirely put her at ease, she almost couldn't help but feel defenceless without a weapon. If she was back home her usual mechanic is on site at the SDC headquarters, meaning she could easily give up her weapon and remain safe in her office in the few hours it normally took. Not only did she not want to remain cooped up in her lonely apartment for the duration, she didn't even know how long this whole thing would take. Ruby was completely unfamiliar with her rapier, plus Weiss didn't have a great gauge on her skill level, she certainly seemed competent, but only time will tell. After a little bit of wandering she had reached her destination. A small landing platform sprawled out in front if her, with various transport ships landing and taking off. She scanned the area and found the one she was looking for, a grey and white shuttle adorned with an all too familiar logo. She quickly hopped over to it and got on board. After presenting her huntress liscence to the pilot, the bullhead rose up and headed off to its destination.

Weiss knew this wasn't a long trip, she'd done it countless times before. but even still the view of Beacon Academy on the horizon still gave her the same chills she got all those years ago when she first saw it in person. Under normal circumstances the Academy grounds were inaccessible to anyone who wasn't a student or a teacher. However since it was the holiday season, almost everyone had gone home to their families for a few weeks, and the facilities are open for public use. Well, mostly public use. Considering most of the facilities were training grounds or classrooms, you had to be either a teacher or a huntsman to be allowed to use them, plus you had to book them in advance. Graduates from the school could get past this restriction and use the training rooms as they saw fit. Which is exactly where Weiss was heading to now.

Weiss' approach towards the school was slow and thoughtful, reminiscing about all the time time she had spent there, all the memories she had made over the 4 long years she had been training. She didn't regret it, not in the slightest. Sure she had her ups and downs, her and her team, but when you're in education that's par for the course. She felt it only helped make her the strong soul she is today. She didn't have a lot of time to dwell on the past, however, as she made her way to the training rooms near the back of the Academy, opting to use the indoor ones for tempratures sake. Stepping into the large open room, she slipped off her coat and approached the loose target dummies closest to the entrance. She flexed her muscles, stretching them out over her head to warm up, before reaching forward with one hand. A glyph appeared in front of it, while a bigger one appeared behind the dummy. Weiss jerked her hand towards herself in one motion, having an immediate effect on the dummy, pulling it in her direction. Weiss quickly readied herself and as soon as the dummy was in range she delivered a roundhouse kick into it, sending it flying across the room. She smirked to herself. "Still got it." 

Weiss continued working out for the rest of the morning, before being broken out of her concentration by a loud noise coming from her coat. After a moment She recognised it as her ringtone, and promptly ran over to answer her scroll, fearing it was something work related. Since it was her personal line, Weiss only had a few people to dread calls from. The last thing she expected however was the caller ID to read 'Ruby'. Weiss felt a brief surge of anxiety course through her, and she really didn't know why. She supposed it could have been bad news regarding her weapon, it's not like she was new to dealing with people for buisness. Despite this, she hesitantly started the call and began to speak. "Hello Ruby."

"Heya Weiss!" Came the chirpy reply, catching Weiss off guard. Ruby cleared her throat before speaking again "I am proud to inform you that your weapon is fully functional again, and ready to be picked up."

Weiss was almsot speechless. "Wait, you've fixed the problem? So soon?"

"Yup! Maybe I am a professional after all." Weiss could practically hear the smile in Ruby's voice, which in turn made her smile as well. "But, heh, it's more like I was lucky this time, i'll explain when you get here, you're going to kick yourself when you find out what it was!"

"Um, yes of course." Weiss took a moment before composing herself, her analytical mind already trying to think of the way Ruby solved the problem so fast. "When do you need me there?" 

"Well, whenever you can really, we're open 'til 6 tonight, so you've still got some time." Came Ruby's reply

Weiss didn't see any reason to wait around, the sooner she got Myrtenaster back into her hands the better. Plus she was really curious to hear Ruby's solution. "I'll be around as soon as I can." She replied "Thank you again Ruby."

"Don't mention it!" Ruby replied before ending the call.

The trip from the landing pad to Opal's workshop was shorter than Weiss had expected. She didn't know if that was because it was a trip she did before, or if she was subconsiously rushing to the building. In any case she was happy when she rounded the corner and saw the familiar sight of the old building in front of her. Entering the lobby and wiping her shoes on the mat, she noticed that just like last time, Ruby wasn't behind the counter. 'Must be a busy girl' Weiss thought to herself. Just as the thought left her head, Ruby appeared from the back room carrying a long wooden box by a handle. Upon seeing her, Rubys face lit up with a bright smile, one Weiss recognised from the last time she was here. But Weiss noticed something more, the smile was happy for sure, but there was nervousness mixed in there. Weiss approached the counter and reached up a hand. Ruby quickly removed one her gloves and took the offer with a firm handshake. "Ruby, it's nice to see you again."

"You too! Uh, s-so i've got your weapon, all ready." Ruby replied, bouncing on her heels. 

"Yes, that is excellent news, I certainly didn't expect you to be finished quite so soon." Weiss glanced around, expecting Ruby to reach below the desk and procure said weapon. For a few moments nothing happened, so Weiss' curiousity got the better of her, and she glanced down at the box Ruby had brought out earlier. She was confused at what she saw. The top of the box had 'Myrtenaster' engraved on it in very clean handwriting. Weiss' mouth fell agape in shock. 

Ruby must have taken this as her cue, as her hands reached down to unlock the clips that were on her side securing the lid of the case. Ruby lifted the lid up and spun the box around, and Weiss almost fainted when she saw what was inside. Myrtenaster was sat in a plush satin mold, looking far shinier than she had every seen it before. Weiss gradually reached for her weapon, grasping the handle and picking it up, worried that she would shatter it's cleanliness. She looked back up to Ruby to see her grinning wildly, her shuffling having stopped at this point.

"Do you like it?" Ruby asked, the innocence in her voice almost taunting Weiss. 

"I.." Weiss struggled to find the words "Ruby, this is above and beyond what I expected...I...."

Ruby giggled to herself. "It's no biggie really, we make boxes like this all time...for, you know, custom orders. It's on the house, you kept saying how much Myrtenaster means to you, so I thought this is the least I could do. If my boss asks, you ordered it ok?" Ruby said to her with a wink. 

Weiss was convinced. She had died and gone to heaven, and Ruby was the angel waiting for her at the gates. 


	8. Taking A Chance

Ruby couldn't help but watch Weiss' reaction to the custom case she had spent all day making for her. After Myrtenasters repair went as fast as it did, Ruby wasted no time at all before starting work on the box. Since she started working at Opal's, she had only ever made 3 of these boxes, as it turns out they weren't particularly popular. Despite this, Ruby still had a blast making them, it was a nice change of pace from the constant weapon work. she thought of the idea to give Weiss one as a present on the way to work that morning. The thought came about because Ruby found it odd that Weiss didn't enter the store with one the day prior. With how well crafted her weapon was, Ruby almost saw it as a crime that Weiss simply holstered it and exposed it to the elements. Ruby knew that Huntresses had to be prepared at a moments notice, but at the same time she doubted Weiss was expecting trouble in downtown Vale. Besides, even if Weiss wasn't desperate for a case at that moment, Ruby still wanted to do something extra for her. And as Ruby watched a furious blush spread over Weiss' face and heard her stammering over her words, she knew she made the right call.

Ruby didn't mean to wink, that came from spending too much time with Yang. But the effect she was seemingly having on Weiss made it all worth it. Although things were going well, Rubys heart was still hammering in her chest. Normally she would never have the confidence to be so forward with essentially a perfect stranger. But at the same time there was something about Weiss that was seemingly drawing her in. 

"Ruby, no, this...this is too much, I have to pay for this." Weiss said gesturing to the finely crafted chest that sat between them, as she spoke she was reaching into her pocket for a stack of lien. 

Ruby chuckled. "Weiss it's ok, it's just a little present that's all." 

Weiss pulled her eyes from the money in her hand to look up at Ruby, only to see that she was wearing a warm smile that conveyed nothing but honesty. "But...why gift me with something this well made?" Weiss closed the box and ran her hand across the lettering along the top. "This must have taken hours."

She her gaze slightly to try and hide the blush that had formed on her own cheeks, she wasn't used to getting compliments. "Well, you made it really clear that you care a lot about your weapon, so I thought i'd get you something to house it in while it wasn't being used." Ruby nervously rubbed the back of her neck. "Besides, it didn't take me a super long time, thankfully your little problem had a really easy fix."

"That's so thoughtful. I love it, thank you Ruby." Weiss smiled at Rubys awkward antics. "But now you've mentioned it, I am eager to know, how did you repair Myrtenaster so quickly?"

Ruby's confidence suddenly returned, as she looked back into Weiss' eyes and grinned. "Oh yeah, you're gonna love this." Ruby put her pair of work gloves back on, then she reached one arm over the counter. "May I?" Weiss lifted her rapier and placed its handle into Rubys outsctreched hand. Weiss was surprised with how easy it had been to give up her weapon once again. Ruby carefully opened the weapon back up, and pointed at its cylinder. "So the cylinder was spinning fine, just as you had said in your observations, right?" Weiss just hummed an affirmitve, prompting Ruby to continue. "Well, it was spining just fine normally, but one of the first things I noticed is that once it shot some dust..." Ruby pulled the trigger to show her point, the cylinder spinning perfectly fine, lining the next chamber up with the weapons barrel "THAT didn't happen, it would get stuck."

"Hm, so you're saying...shooting dust is what was causing the problem?" Weiss was listening intently at the explanation, racking her brain to try and grasp what Ruby was getting at.

"Kind of, I was confused at first too, but then I took this bad boy off." Ruby clarified as she tapped the cylinder once more. "And this fell out of the gap." She reached into her pocket, pulling out the small chunk of metal that had lodged itself in Weiss' weapon. "Turns out this little guy was blocking the mechanism from rotating properly."

Ruby looked up from the shrapnel, only to see Weiss staring at her with a deadpan expression. She couldn't help but giggle. "That's it? That tiny piece of metal is what was giving me grief for almost a week?"

"Yep, once it fell out it all went back to working perfectly." Ruby held the metal out towards Weiss, prompting her to take it. 

"I can't believe it..." Weiss muttered as she grabbed it from Rubys hand. She turned it around a few times to examine it. She then chuckled and looked at Ruby, only to see her grinning wildly. "I feel like such a dunce."

"Aww don't say that, how were you supposed to know?" Ruby said with a shrug. "Do you have any idea where it came from?"

"Nope, it doesnt look like anything I recognise...it could have come from anywhere." Was Weiss' response. She raised the metal back towards Ruby, but she shook her head.

"You keep it, it can be like a memento!" Ruby said, as she carefully put Myrtenaster back into its new home, clicking the case shut. 

Weiss placed the metal in her jacket pocket, as she handed over the payment for the job to Ruby. "Well, i'll ask around, see if someone I know recognises it." She grabbed the weapon case by the handle and lifted it up effortlessly. "Thank you again Ruby, I was nervous about all this at first, but you have proven to be quite the weaponsmith."

For the second time today, a blush threatened to overtake Rubys' entire face. "Pshh it's nothing, I just shook some loose metal out.."

"Don't sell yourself short Ruby, i've seen the care you put into handling my weapon, it's extremely professional." Weiss' words were stern, and she had a light frown on her face. "Besides, you fixed the problem, and made a beautiful case, you've been great."

Ruby was smiling as Weiss finished talking. "Thank you Weiss."

"No problem" Weiss said as she started heading towards the door to leave. She turned around one last time to wave goodbye to Ruby. "Thank you again Ruby, I hope our paths cross again soon."

Ruby watched her leave, her mind reeling. If Weiss left now, she would be leaving her life forever. Ruby wasn't going to let that happen, she had to do something. So she did the first thing that came to her mind, just as Weiss was reaching for the door handle, she shouted out after her. "Wait!"

Weiss stopped in her tracks, and glanced back at Ruby. "Sorry?"

She swallowed hard before stepping around the counter. Her hands were clammy from sweating so hard, but she had to do this. "Sorry, I just meant to ask you um, do you maybe want to...um, go to dinner with me sometime?"

Weiss was rendered speechless for the third time today, the question seemingly came from nowhere. But at the same time, she was almost relieved that Ruby had said something. So with one hand still on the door, she smiled at Ruby and nodded. "I would love to." Weiss turned around to look at her properly. "Are you free tonight?" 

Ruby wore the same nervous face she had on when she asked the question, but inside she was screaming with glee. "Wait really? Um..um yeah. yes I am!" She unconsciously ran her hand through her hair. "I'm off in a few hours."

Weiss laughed, Rubys antics getting to her again. "Great, I have an idea on where to go, i'll send you a message with the details when I get home." She finally opened the door, stepping outside. "I'll see you tonight, Ruby." Weiss added.

After the white haired woman had left, Ruby released the breath that she had been holding. But it still took her a few seconds to recover from her stupor, she couldn't believe it, it had happened so fast. But she did it, she had a date with the cute customer that she had been pining over for almost 24 hours. While she was standing there she was blissfully unaware that she was being watched. Dark green eyes were sat in the shadows, watching the younger woman with glee.

"Who was that?" Opals' voice cut through the silence like butter, snapping her out of her daze. There was a michveious glint in her voice that didn't go un-noticed by Ruby. 

"Um no-one, just a customer!" Ruby swiveled on her heels to come face to face with Opal. 

"Are you sure? Because it sounded an awful lot like something more." Opal said smirking down at Ruby. 

Ruby sighed, she knew when she was caught. "Ok sorry Opal, i'll go back to work now." 

Opal reached forward and put a hand on Rubys shoulder to stop her from storming off. "Now now, there's no need to be sorry." Opal said. "How about you go finish up with those daggers from the other day? Then we can shut early." 

"Wait, shut early?" Rubys eyes widened at the possibility. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am, it sounds like you have a date to get ready for." Opal said kindly to her.

She watched as Rubys' face lit up. Before she could carry on, Ruby darted back behind the counter in record time. "Thanks Opal! I wont let you down!"

"Ah, young love is a beautiful thing." Opal said as she heard the sound of clattering from the back room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thank you for reading my story thus far, I hope you're enjoying it :)  
> I'm going to take a short break over Christmas Time, but I'll be back to posting in a few weeks. As for the state of the story, i'd say we're a little over half-way through. Sorry it took so long to get to the action! Thank you everyone for your comments and kudos, your kind words make me want to keep writing ^^
> 
> In any case, I wish you all happy holidays, Ruby and Weiss will return in 2021 with Date Night!


	9. Date Night

On the outside it looked like Ruby was staring intently at the work in front of her. She was using the curved end of a hammer to forcibly remove the grip of a dagger. This was the third in a group of four that had to have their grips replaced. Of course, Ruby wasn't entirely concentrating on the job at hand, she was nervously worrying about something much more important. Like what she was going to wear. What kind of place did Weiss have in mind? Would a big formal dress be too much? Ruby really didn't want to wear a dress, but at the same time Weiss seemed like a classy lady, she would probably pick some fancy upscale place that demanded expensive formal wear. And the date itself, what would they talk about? What if Weiss found her boring? What if she found Weiss boring? And what would happen if this place was out of town? Ruby didn't drive, so would she have to share a taxi with Weiss? And what's going to happen after? What if Weiss wants her to stay the night? As all of these thoughts were running through Rubys head, she hadn't noticed that the grip she was working on had already been pulled off, and she was scraping the hilt of the dagger with more and more force. All of a sudden she felt a shooting pain on her hand, as she had missed the dagger completely and had cut her palm. Ruby yelped out in pain, and it didn't take long for Opal to run into the room. "Ruby, what happened?!"

Ruby looked up from her hand, shooting Opal a small smile. "It's nothing, don't worry, I just cut my hand a little." She removed her other hand that had been clutching her wound and showed Opal the cut. Thankfully it wasn't too bad.

Shaking her head, Opal returned her smile. "Oh my dear, you need to be more careful." She grabbed a small first aid box as she was speaking, and headed over to Ruby. "Go wash it under a tap, and then we can patch it up."

Ruby quickly hopped over to a sink and turned the tap on. Her hand stung as the water washed over it, making Ruby wince. She walked back towards Opal, who was now holding some bandages. "Thanks Opal, it was my fault, I wasn't paying attention."

Opal looked at Ruby with a glint in her eye. "Thinking about that girl from earlier?" Ruby blushed under her gaze, but didn't say anything. Once her hand was patched up, she thanked Opal and headed back to the daggers on the table. Opal quickly tutted. "Ruby, you're not going back to work with that."

"No it's fine, Opal, i'm fine." Ruby was already starting to pull off the last grip. "You're already letting me leave early, I need to repay that by at least finishing this job!" She turned her head to make eye contact with her boss one last time. "I'll be careful, I promise!"

Opal shook her head once more, before chuckling. "You can't be stopped sometimes." She turned to head back to the front of the shop, calling back to Ruby. "But once you've fitted those grips, you're off home!" 

"I promise!" Ruby repeated. Even though her mind was still racing with nervous thoughts, Ruby started working much more carefully. Partially because she didn't want any more injuries, and partially because the bandage on her hand made it hard to work fast anyway. Once she had finished, a new rubber grip firmly attached on four different daggers, she quickly changed into her casual clothes and waved goodbye to Opal on her way out the door.

Ruby wasted no time returning to her place, and as soon as she did she jumped in the shower. Her hand throbbed in pain as she removed the bandages concealing her cut, wincing once again as she washed it under the water. Ruby stood there in thought, letting the water running over her. For the first time today, the realisation that she had actually scored a date with Weiss hit her, and she mentally readied herself to start taking this seriously. If this was going to be her one shot at a real relationship, she needed to do this right. Once she was out her mind was a little more clear, so she composed herself, reapplied some bandages on her hand, and started to properly prepare for her date. She walked over to her closet and threw a few potential outfits onto the bed. Raising her hand to her chin in thought, she wasn't entirely impressed with what she saw. As it turns out she only had a few things she would wear out on a date, and fewer still that she would consider 'fancy'. Ruby sighed and picked up a loose red shirt and a pair of jeans, deciding they would be first things to try on for tonight. 

Ruby turned around, sighing once again as she looked at her back in the mirror. She still hadn't decided on an outfit, and just as she was about to dump the boyshorts she was wearing this time, her scroll buzzed from pocket of the jeans she had worn home. Ruby instantly froze. She had been expecting a message for sure, but knowing that something from Weiss was sat in the other room waiting for her was enough to get her heart racing. She rushed back into the bathroom, almost tripping over all the discarded clothes on the floor, and practically dived for her scroll. And just as expected there sat an unread message.

Weiss ❄: Hello Ruby, I trust we are still on for tonight? The place is Slice Of Heaven, it's near the coast. Do you have transport?

Ruby couldn't help but squeal with delight, with this message the date seemed much more real. She sent a carefully thought out response.

You: Hey Weiss!  
You: um I dont drive if thats what you mean, but I can get a cab down there no problem!  
You: what time do you want to meet?  
You: Oh! And how fancy do I need to dress?  
You: sorry for all the questions 😅

She threw her scroll down onto the pile of clothes on her bed, mentally scolding herself for all the messages. She didn't want to scare Weiss off before they had even spent time together. She knew she was at the mercy of Weiss' reply, but she couldn't help nervously glancing at the clock every couple of seconds. It was then she noticed it. A small patch of silk poking out from the closet door. She didn't recognise it at first, after all it wasn't like her to wear such shiny things. After pulling it free she let out a gasp, recognising it as the old dress she wore for her final year dance at Signal Academy. Ruby ran her hand down its length, only to recoil after covering her palm in dust. She shook the dress and started coughing. "Didn't think i'd see you again..." she rasped out, dust still in the air. A sudden thought hit the girl, and she pulled open the closet door all the way to confirm her belief, down on the floor under where the dress had been was a pair of red heels. Ruby looked from the shoes to the dress and back again, then she smirked. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Weiss didn't mind the questions. The poor girl still wasn't used to the way Ruby sent a barrage of messages every time they spoke. It was so informal. So unprofessional. Yet so refreshing. She was currently led down on her bed, relaxing after what had proven to be a tiring day. Instead of going directly home to the SDC building after leaving Opal's shop, Weiss took a scenic route home, going for a walk in a nearby park in order to clear her head. Not only was she dumbstruck by Ruby asking her out in the first place. but the eagerness of her own response gave her a lot to think about. She kept replaying the moment in her head, realising that she was almost expecting it, and chastising herself for not thinking like a Schnee and taking the initiative. By the time Weiss finally got back to the SDC building, she had already decided on a good restaurant to take Ruby. It was a relatively quiet place that she had treated her team to after their last year at Beacon Academy, as such it had a bit of sentimental value to her. There was a beautiful view of the ocean which she was sure Ruby would appreciate. Weiss hummed happily at the memory, and then got to work replying to Rubys questions, intent on setting both of their minds at ease.

You: Ruby there is no need to apologise. I can organise us a lift; message me with your address and I will be there at 21:00  
You: As for dress code, make sure it's something formal.

After hitting send, she re-read her messages a few times, before realising that they looked a little blunt. She thought for a second before sending another message, this time from the heart.

You: I am most looking forward to seeing you tonight.

Satisfied with the information she had given Ruby, Weiss happily trotted over to her own closet, having already chosen what she wanted to wear out. Laying the outfit on her bed, Weiss headed into the bathroom for a long soak and a proper wash. If she was actually going to have this date, she was going to do it right. Stepping out of the bathroom in a towel, Weiss started her preparations by brushing her hair and styling it into her signature off centre ponytail. She then sat at her vanity and started applying some light makeup, nothing overly outlandish, but enough to accentuate her features. The final step was to don her outfit for the night. She had chosen a thigh length white dress. It was simple but pretty, and hopefully enough to blow Ruby away. Weiss put on some white flats and a small jacket and headed out the door.

Once her driver signalled that they were at their destination, Weiss sent a message to Ruby letting the younger girl know that she was waiting outside. Weiss opened her door and stepped out into the chilly wind, silently hoping that Ruby wouldn't keep her waiting for too long. After a few moments, she heard the front door of the apartment block open and watched in awe as Ruby stepped out into the night. She couldn't help but leave her mouth agape, she knew Ruby was beautiful but seeing her dressed to the nines was on a whole other level. Ruby approached her, giggling slightly as she saw Weiss' dumbfounded expression. Weiss shook her head and composed herself. "Good evening Ruby." She greeted, a fresh red blush adorning her cheeks. She slowly reached her hand up and offered it to Ruby. 

Ruby smiled and placed her hand in Weiss'. "Good evening Weiss." Ruby replied, but before she could say anything else, Weiss lifted her hand to her mouth and gave it a light peck on the back of her knuckles, causing Rubys face to erupt with red. Ruby caught Weiss letting loose a devilish smirk, Seemingly content with having returned the favour. Before Ruby could react, Weiss had turned on her heels and was holding the car door open for her. "Thanks W-Weiss." Ruby said as she stepped in and lowered herself to the seat.

Weiss carefully shut the door, and meandered back behind the car. Before long the girls were sitting next to eachother, both blushing, and both with anticipation with what tonight will bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo everyone, sorry for the wait on this chapter, I should get back to posting a bit more regularly from now on! :)
> 
> And for the record the outfits the girls are wearing are the same ones from the episode Dance Dance Infiltration, I thought it would be cute :P


	10. Revelations

Silence reigned in the car, the only noises being the growl of the engine and the low hum of the vehicles heaters working overtime to combat the winter chill from outside. Weiss chanced a glance over at Ruby, only to find the younger girl looking back at her with awe in her eyes. Looking into Rubys silver eyes, Weiss felt her heart flutter for a moment before suddenly remembering she had an image to maintain. "Don't you know it's rude to stare?!"

Ruby let loose an "EEP!" before swinging her neck back around and looking at the back of the seat in front of her. "Sorry..."

Weiss' cold exterior was betrayed by the new red warmth that was spreading on her cheeks. "It-it's ok Ruby, I was just a little surprised is all." she said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. "How have you been?"

"Oh I've been ok Weiss" Ruby almost whispered, hoping that she hadn't already ruined the mood. "How about you?" She kept her eyes trained forward.

With no small amount of relief in her voice, Weiss replied. "I've been ok too, I went for a walk before heading home to get ready."

Ruby gasped upon hearing this, swinging her head around in Weiss' direction. "In THIS weather? You must have been freezing!"

The sudden outburst caused Weiss to laugh. "No it's ok, that coat I had wasn't just for show."

"Ah that's good, i'm glad." Ruby smiled hearing Weiss' laugh again. The duo fell into a comfortable silence after that. Ruby cautiously glanced in Weiss' direction, taking in the sight of the girl before her. Admiring her outfit, Ruby was proud to find out that she had managed to get the perfect outfit for the date. At first she considered her old dance dress to be a big risk, but Weiss HAD mentioned formal, and compared to the rest of her clothes, this was the most formal thing she had. Ruby lifted her hand to brush her short hair out of her eyes, and it was at this point Weiss noticed that it was still bandaged up.

The sight shocked her enough to let out an audible gasp, which got Rubys attention. "Oh no Ruby, what happened to your hand?"

Ruby blinked for a second, before following Weiss' finger to her wound. She simply laughed it off and waved it in Weiss' direction. "Oh pff, this? Don't worry about it Weiss, I just cut it at work, it's no biggie."

"Does it not hurt?" Weiss asked with genuine concern in her voice. The tone made Rubys heart skip a beat.

"No it's fine, this kind of thing happens all the time." Ruby said. As if prediciting what Weiss' next sentence was going to be, she quickly added "N-not to say i'm not careful! It's just, mistakes happen."

"Well, as long as you're sure that you're ok." Weiss relented. Ruby's reply was to flash Weiss one of her signature bright smiles. Weiss warmly returned the smile before relaxing back into her seat. Looking out the window she could now see the sea on the horizon, which meant it was only a matter of time before arriving at the restaurant. Weiss subtly shuffled in her seat, the butterflies in her stomach starting to get the better of her. In hindsight she barely knew Ruby, she knew that there would be a lot to discuss between the two of them. And Weiss really did like her, she just hoped Ruby wouldn't start treating her differently once she finds out she was dealing with a minor celebrity. Looking back at Ruby, Weiss noted that she too was staring out of the window at the scenery whizzing by. Weiss' look lingered for longer than she had planned, and Ruby turned around locking eyes with Weiss once more. Weiss suddenly froze like a deer in headlights, causing Ruby to giggle at the sight before her.

She managed to get her laughing under control enough to sarcastically ask Weiss "I thought staring was rude?" 

Weiss simply retreated into herself, her cheeks had turned a deep crimson at this point, courtesy of getting caught leering. "Well, I was just...um..."

Seeing Weiss flustered caused Ruby to start blushing herself, surprised that she was having this sort of effect on her. "It's fine, now we're even!" she said, attempting to add some humor to the situation. "It was nice of you to organise a lift for us by the way! We can go halfsies if you want?" Ruby said eagerly, changing the subject.

"No Ruby it's ok, this is my-um..." Weiss wasn't ready to admit that she had a private chauffer just yet. "My treat!"

"Awww Weiss that's so nice of you!" Ruby stopped and pondered something for a moment. She then quickly added "Nice Weiss...I like the sound of that!"

The confused look on Weiss' face was quickly replaced with a deadpan expression. "Nice Weiss?" She raised an eyebrow at Ruby.

"Yeah! It rolls off the tounge, dontcha think?" Ruby asked innocently, grinning at Weiss

Weiss couldn't stay mad at that face for very long. "Yes, I suppose it does..." She finally gave in, returning the grin back at Ruby.

Their moment was interrupted by the car coming to halt and the driver announcing that they had arrived at their destination.

Weiss thanked him and got ready to open her door to step out, but was quickly stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "Oh oh, please, allow me." Ruby said to her, rushing to open her own door. Weiss looked back to ask what she meant but it was too late, Ruby was already halfway behind the car. In an instant Weiss' own door was opened, and in its place was a smiling Ruby Rose. "After you, milady."

Weiss couldn't help but smile, deciding it would be fun to play along. Lightly gripping Ruby's outstretched hand, she let the younger girl lift her up out of the car. "You certainly know how to treat a lady, madam." Weiss managed out in an over exaggerated Atlesian accent. Once she was fully up and out of the car, both of the young women shared a look before bursting into a fit of giggles. Weiss thanked her driver, out of earshot to Ruby so as to not raise any suspicion, and then they both headed off towards the restaurant.

Upon entering the "Slice Of Heaven", Ruby couldn't contain her excitement. The building was one of the fanciest places she'd ever been to. A small hallway led straight into the main dining room. There was a bar running along the right most wall, but unlike most of the bars Yang had dragged her to, the seats were evenly spaced out, giving the patrons ample room to themselves. However is was the rest of the dining room that had grabbed her attention. Large windows ran all the way from the floor to the ceiling, they were spaced evenly apart and were crystal clear, giving off the impression that they weren't really there. On the other side was the ocean, with waves crashing up the side of the building every so often. 

While Ruby was admiring the view, Weiss had talked to the Maître d and got themselves seated at the table she had wisely booked in advance. It was out of the way in the corner, right next to one of the large windows. The deep blue ocean was all Ruby could see, all the way out into the horizon. The blue water met an orange sky, as the sun was setting in perfect view of the table, casting a warm glow over the entire restaurant. To say it was beautiful would be an understatement.

"Do you like it?" Asked Weiss, her question cutting through Rubys stupor.

"The view is amazing!" Ruby replied honestly.

Weiss hummed in agreement. "Isn't it? It's built on an overhang, to give the impression that we're hovering over the sea. It certainly is something."

Ruby leant over to the window, practically smushing her face against the glass, and looked down. Sure enough she could only see the cool blue of the water below her. "Coool"

Turning back towards the table, she saw Weiss flicking through the menu and decided to follow suit. However when she started looking at the prices of some of these dishes, she couldn't help but be overwhelmed. '2000 Lien for a quiche? 3000 for lasagne?! Is that even legal?!' She though to herself. Ruby was fairly well off for money, she'd never had any problems in the past. But since looking at some of these prices she started to rethink her meaning of well off.

"Have you decided on anything yet? I think i'll have the Taijitu Curry" Weiss asked her dining partner.

"Um, yeah I think I might have the... SIde salad?" Ruby couldn't help but release a nervous chuckle, unsure on how exactly she could tell Weiss that these meals might be a little out of her price range.

She watched as Weiss peeked out over her menu and made a face. "Are you sure that's all you want? You can push the boat out a little Ruby, it's my treat."

Ruby pouted and tilted her head like a confused puppy, something Weiss couldn't help but find really adorable. "But the taxi was your treat too, you can't keep treating me it's not fair."

Weiss tutted and waved her hand in Rubys direction. "Nonsense, this is me paying you back for that lovely case you made me. Don't worry about it Ruby." She stopped and locked eyes with Ruby, only to see her still frowning. "Besides, I owe you for a lot more than just that box."

Ruby's sad face was quickly replaced with confusion. "What else have I done for you?"

"You actually asked me out, if you hadn't said anything I probably wouldn't have seen you again." Weiss averted her gaze, looking down at the table. "Honestly I wish I had the courage to say something first..."

Ruby immediatly dismissed her concerns with a laugh. "Trust me Weiss, I wasn't going to let you get away that easily, I still have your number remember?" Ruby added with a wink.

"So you would have just harassed me with messages instead?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.

"If that's what it would have taken, sure." Ruby beamed with full confidence. Her attention was suddenly grabbed by the waitress who had materialized beside their table. 

"I'll have the Taijitu Curry please." Weiss stated, before expectantly looking at Ruby.

The brunette faltered for a moment before speaking up. "And i'll have the Tuna Pasta Bake please." The waitress thanked them and took their orders and menus back towards the kitchen. Ruby looked up guiltily at Weiss, only to see her sporting a warm smile, causing Ruby to smile back in return.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't long before their meals arrived, both girls enjoying their respective dishes in equal measure. Any lull in eating was very quickly replaced with conversation, both Ruby and Weiss falling into a happy cadence as they ate. However Ruby soon brought up a topic that Weiss had been dreading to talk about.

"So Weiss, what do you do for a living?" Ruby innocently asked before swallowing the pasta she had been chewing on. "I know you're a huntress but you mentioned office work before." Ruby at first had been afraid to approach the subject, but curiousity had gotten the better of her, she just had to know what was more important than hunting Grimm. 

Weiss looked down at the table before sighing. She was again thankful that Ruby had asked about it first, as she honestly believed her nerves would have stopped her every time. Steeling herself, she thought she would start small. "I work for the Schnee Dust Company." She started, returning Rubys look. "Have you heard of it?"

Ruby simply snorted, causing Weiss to jump slightly. "The SDC? Of course i've heard of them, they're the most prolific Dust manufacturers on Remnant." Ruby stated.

Weiss nodded before continuing. "That's correct. Well seeing as you know the company, do you know the family behind it all?"

Ruby placed her elbow onto the table and leant on her hand in thought. "The Schnees? Not much, I know about Jacques..." Ruby spent some time recalling all the times the SDC had appeared on the news. "and that he has 3 kids, honestly they're pretty secretive despite their name being on the buisness." Ruby picked up her fork, scooping up another load of pasta. "What does their family have to do with anything?" 

'Well, here goes nothing' Weiss thought, watching as Ruby started chewing her food. "Well my name is Weiss...Weiss Schnee, Jacques is my father." Weiss cringed inwardly as Ruby's chewing slowed down. "I'm sort of...next in line for the CEO position." Weiss added, holding her breath. Ruby swallowed what was left of her pasta and Weiss couldn't help but screw her eyes closed. Long ago she would have been proud to flaunt her position, but recently a number of bad experiences had made her realise that if she wanted people to be honest with her, she had to hide her status until absolutely necessary. The moment seemed to stretch on to infinity, as Weiss sat there expecting a number of different things. For all she knew, Ruby could have already left. But as she peeled her eyes open, it was obvious only a few seconds had passed.

"Wow, that's pretty cool!" Was all Ruby said before grabbing another fork of pasta from her quickly diminishing meal. "Is that what you were so nervous to tell me?" Weiss just stared at Ruby across the table for a small while, watching as the girl finished chewing another bite of food. "Mmm, this pasta is so good." 

Weiss rubbed her eyes before speaking again. "You're not...mad that I kept this from you?"

Ruby tilted her head to the side once more. "Why would I be mad? If anything it explains why you haven't been doing a lot of Huntress work recently, I bet you're super busy." Weiss slumped back in her seat, all of her tension falling off in a matter of seconds. Ruby put a hand in front of her mouth and giggled at the visibly deflating girl. Weiss couldn't contain herself, as she started laughing along with her, completey forgetting how she could have possibly been that worried about this whole thing.

"Yes it is rather time consuming, it's another reason i'm so glad we're on this date together, i've been in a rut for a while." She sat up in her seat and sent a warm smile to Ruby. "I'm glad it's with you Ruby, honestly that went a lot better than I expected. Thank you."

Ruby couldn't help but blush at the sudden compliment. "Don't mention it Weiss, i'm glad you're here too."

Ruby truly meant it, any doubts she may have had about this date were gone during the drive there, and the night could not have been going any smoother. 


	11. How Time Flies

"Man, I'm stuffed." Ruby said. She leant back into her chair and placed her hands on her stomach for emphasis. She looked from the empty plate in front of her up to Weiss, only to see the girl sporting a devilish smirk. "What are you...?" Ruby started, before Weiss suddenly placed her hand onto the table and thrust a menu in Rubys direction.

"Well I sure hope you've got room for dessert, the cheescake here is divine." Weiss said, with a very knowing tone in her voice. To her credit, Ruby looked down at the dessert menu for a few seconds before letting her head drop and crying out a drawn out groan, eliciting yet another chuckle from the girl across the table. "I'm only kidding Ruby, we don't have to get-"

"Oh no!" Ruby suddenly blurted, cutting Weiss of. "I've not skipped dessert my whole life and i'm not starting now." Weiss' shocked gasp was quickly met with Ruby's own mischievous smile, mirroring the one Weiss had given her moments prior. "You're the one that'll have to deal with the complaining on the way back."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ruby, who at this point was happily browsing the menu. "Touché, Rose." Weiss replied, earning a giggle from a now giddy Ruby.

Weiss watched Ruby gleefully look through her menu for a moment, humming a little tune and bobbing her head back and forth. "Wow, you're right, that cheescake DOES look good!" she suddenly said. Weiss had been so incredibly nervous ever since Ruby had asked her out. Looking across the table at the bundle of joy that was Ruby Rose, she still couldn't really believe this date was going as well as it has been so far. A feeling of warmth starting bubbling up from Weiss' stomach, not quite comprehending how lucky she had gotten. 

She shook her head to snap back to reality, and started looking at the dessert choices. "So Ruby, how long have you been working at Opals?" She asked after a moment, glancing at the back of Rubys menu.

Ruby paused her humming and placed her menu on the table. She made eye contact with Weiss for a moment, before taking a quick sip of her half finished drink. "I've been there since I graduated from Signal Academy, so...2 years now." Ruby smiled at the thought. "It hasn't felt like it though, honestly it's been super fun working there."

Ruby watched as Weiss quickly looked over her menu at her, now sporting a confused expression on her face. "Wait, you attended Signal?"

Ruby beamed, seemingly proud of that fact. "Sure did!" Weiss just continued looking at her with bewilderment. 

"Hold on i'm confused, if you graduated from a junior Huntsman Academy, surely you would have followed through and gone to Beacon too?" Weiss asked. However as soon as the words left her mouth she saw Rubys mood drop, and she immediately regretted saying it.

Before Weiss could apologise for bringing up an obviously sensitive subject, Ruby quickly offered an explanation. "Well, I did actually apply to Beacon, got all the way to the initiation in fact." As Ruby was explaining, she slowly raised her head to look out the window over the ocean. "But in the end I couldn't cut it, before I even found my partner I made a Deathstalker mad and it chased me all over the forest..." She paused again to sigh, recalling how embarrassed she had been at the time. She quickly shook her head to banish the sad thoughts. "I wanted to be a Huntress so so much, but messing up as bad as I did sort of made me realise that i'm not quite as strong as I thought I was." Weiss' heart hurt upon hearing the story, touched that Ruby would even share what Weiss considered to be a very personal memory with her.

"I'm sorry to hear that Ruby." Weiss started, not entirely sure on what to say. "Being a Huntress isn't an easy job, i'm sure you're very strong, don't beat yourself up about it. Besides, even having that aspiration in the first place speaks volumes about your character."

Ruby continued, this time with a small smile plastered on her face. "Wow thank you Weiss, that means a lot. You see the rest of family all do the same thing, they were all hunters, I wanted to join them in protecting all the people in the world." as she was talking her smile had turned into a full blown grin. "That's why I turned to making weapons! I figure if I can't quite cut it was a Huntress, I can at least make their tools better, right?" Ruby's sudden change in attitude came as a shock to Weiss, who at this point was panicking that she had ruined the night with her insensitive comment. 

Glad that wasn't the case, Weiss returned Ruby's infectious smile with one of her own. "In that case I meant what I said before, you must be strong, turning that whole ordeal into something positive is no easy feat." Weiss replied, picking up her own drink. "you mentioned your family were huntsmen?" she added, bringing her glass to her mouth.

"Oh yeah, my parents actually met at Beacon. They were on a team together." Ruby replied, fondly recalling the memories of her childhood. "My dad teaches at Signal now for a living. It was him and my Uncle Qrow that taught me all I know about fighting Grimm!" Her wistful look slowly turned sour. "My mom....my mom died when I was really young, she went on a mission and never returned."

Weiss gasped upon hearing that. "Oh Ruby, that's awful. I'm sorry..."

Ruby waved a hand in her direction. "Don't be silly, it's no-ones fault. The way I look at it is that she died protecting people, it's giving me motivation to keep moving forward, to carry on her legacy so to speak." 

"That's very noble of you Ruby." Weiss commented, happy that Ruby trusts her enough to share these things with her.

Noticing they were both holding their glasses, Ruby was suddenly struck with a fun thought. "To noble goals!" she announced as she raised her glass into the air.

Weiss giggled and lifted her glass, softly knocking it into Rubys with a small _tink_. "Noble goals!" she echoed, taking a big gulp of her drink in sync with Ruby. 

"Oh I never even got to my sister!" Ruby added. "She went to Beacon too, actually if I had passed the initiation I would have been there at the same time as her."

Weiss was surprised to hear this, since that would mean they both have sisters, giving them something extra to talk about. "Oh? Is your sister the same age as you then?"

"What Yang? No she's older than me, she graduated as a Huntress last year, I couldn't be prouder of her." Ruby continued, oblivious to the fact that Weiss' face had gone pale at the mention of that name. "If I made it in she would have been on her second year, but it would have been nice to have someone familiar on campus at least." 

Weiss needed a moment to gather her suddenly racing thoughts. After staring into space for a few seconds she piped up, almost making Ruby jump. "Sorry did you just say...Yang?

Ruby blinked. "Um, yeah that's right." She answered with a smile.

"It isn't Yang...Xiao-Long by any chance?" Weiss was certain that this was all a misunderstanding, maybe Ruby got the dates wrong or maybe she meant to say it was her brother or maybe-

"Yeah, that's right Weiss, how did you know that?" Weiss' train of thought was completely derailed from Ruby's answer. She managed to regain her senses long enough to see that Ruby was wearing a shocked look that she was sure at this point mirrored her own. 

At this point Weiss couldn't help but think out loud. "And...she went to Beacon." Weiss began looking around the restaurant, taking quick glances at the patrons sitting at the other tables surrounding her. She couldn't see anyone familiar however, so she turned back to Ruby. "Are you..joking? This is a prank right?

Ruby furrowed her brow at Weiss and let out a nervous chuckle. "This isn't a...prank..." She trailed off as she saw Weiss turn a full 180 behind her, still looking around for something. "Ok Weiss you're starting to scare me now..."

"Ruby." Weiss sternly stated, flipping herself back around and causing Ruby to jump slightly. "I know Yang from Beacon, in fact we were quite close friends." Ruby just stopped and stared at Weiss, letting the information sink in. "And you're...her sister?

Both girls held their pose for moment, Weiss was appraising Ruby, looking for any similarities between her and the blonde brawler she knew from her Academy days. "Wait wait, you went to Beacon? I thought you went to Atlas Academy?" Ruby's confusion came through in her words.

Weiss shook her head in response. "No, my father didn't want me to be a huntress at all, so when I convinced him that I was going to go either way, I chose Beacon as a way to spite him." Weiss rushed out her explanation. Ruby slowly nodded, which caused Weiss to return to the matter at hand. "Now Ruby, why didn't you tell me you were Yang's sister?"

Ruby let out a stifled "Eeep" as the attention was suddenly turned back to her. "Well I-I didn't think you would have known her..." Ruby started running her index finger in circles around the rim of her glass. She looked up only to see Weiss' bewildered face still staring back at her. "It's a small world, huh?" Ruby added with a coy smile, hoping that Weiss wasn't one of Yangs angry exes or something.

Thankfully that didn't seem to be the case. Weiss returned her smile, before giggling softly. "You know Ruby, I never would have guessed in a million years that you and that burning brute were related, you truly are nothing alike." Ruby put on a fake frown, but Weiss continued before Ruby could add a snarky comment "Are you sure you're not pulling my leg?"

"Positive!" Ruby replied full of confidence. "But how I am sure YOU'RE not pulling MY leg? I've met all the members of her team, I think I would have remembered someone as pretty as you." She said, batting her eye at a now blushing Weiss.

Weiss huffed and turned away from the not so innocent girl in front of her. "Flattery will get you nowhere, dolt." she looked back at Ruby only to fold at the sight of her wide eyes and even wider grin. "To clarify, no I wasn't in her team, I was in a different one. I did work very closely with hers after one of our members got kicked out of the Academy."

Weiss stopped when she saw Ruby's eyes go wide in realisation "Wait I remember Yang telling me, that one guy got kicked out, Karen or something..."

Weiss couldn't help but burst into laughter "Yes, that was Cardin. He got expelled for bullying."

However, Weiss' joy was short lived, as she turned back to and noticed the younger girl had a mischievous glint in her eye. "That means...you must be the Ice Queen from Team Patches!" She deduced, collapsing into a fit of cackles. Weiss just stared at Ruby in disbelief, her face reddening even further in embarrassment. She buried her head into her hands, waiting for Ruby's laughing to subside. "I'm sorry Weiss.." Ruby managed out between giggles. "It's just, Yang has told us so many stories about you guys, now i'm on an actual date with you..."

"You know." Weiss started, he speech being muffled from between her fingers. "I could say the same thing..." Weiss raised her head from its nest and smiled into Ruby's eyes. "To think i'm dating someone related to Yang, it almost makes up for all the pranks she's pulled on me."

"The ultimate comeback" Ruby smirked, catching onto Weiss' point. "But wait, how could be in that team, there aren't any W's in Patches?"

"They used my surname for that, Schnee." Weiss raised a hand and lifted her index finger. "Let's see, first there was Pyrrha, for P." She next raised her middle finger. "Then they used Jaunes surname, Arc, for the A." Weiss sighed as she raised her Ring finger up. "Unfortunately Cardin was there, he made the C." Then she finally raised up her pinky finger to complete the team. "And finally Schnee, for S. Team PACS!" she balled her hand up and shot it into the sky at that last declaration, causing Ruby to laugh once more.

"Cheers for team Patches!" Ruby shouted, raising her glass once more. Weiss quickly grabbed her glass and tapped them together.

"Apart from Cardin." Weiss clarified, taking a sip of her drink

"Apart from Cardin!" Ruby confirmed, following suite with her own drink.

Ruby downed the rest of her drink, taking in Weiss' laughing face before her. So far this date had been a whirlwind of emotions for her, and she was sure she could say the same about Weiss. Ruby didn't want to get ahead of herself, but she was honestly thinking that this will go down in history as one of the best nights of her life.


	12. Reflection

After finishing the remainder of her drink, Weiss was far too curious for her own good and had to ask Ruby about her sister, one of the many people Weiss hadn't spoken to since her Academy days. "How's Yang doing these days?"

"Oh she's doing fine." Ruby replied, placing her now empty glass back onto the table. "Do you know Blake?"

Weiss smiled at the mention of Blake, she'd known her for just as long as Yang and she somehow knew that they both would be mentioned alongside eachother. "I do, again we worked closely with team BYRN (Burn) once Cardin left us." As Weiss started recalling her interactions with her so called sister team, many fond memories rushed back into her head.

"Makes sense I guess." Ruby replied. "Well they're both working as a duo now! They're dating and taking on Huntress missions together, it's like a dream come true for Yang." She couldn't keep her warm grin off her face as she spoke about her beloved sister. 

Weiss just chuckled "Yeah those two were inseparable, you would always see them studying together, training together, doing pretty much everything together. I'm glad to hear they're doing well." As Weiss was talking, the waitress from earlier returned and asked the girls about dessert. "Yes, can I get the vanilla cheescake please?" 

Ruby shot a quick apologetic look to Weiss before timidly providing her own answer "Can I get the same please?" The waitress nodded and took both their menus. Just before she left to take their orders to the kitchen, Weiss quickly got her attention and asked for a refill on their drinks. "Weiss it's ok, you don't need to buy me another drink..."

As she trailed off, Weiss tutted. "Ruby it's OK" she reiterated, watching Ruby's face fall. "Again you took the leap and asked me out, paying for dinner is nothing compared to that, it's the least I can do."

Ruby was still looking at the table when she replied. "T-thanks again Weiss." She said softly, but after a moment she suddenly bolted her head upright making Weiss jump. "But i'm paying next time! No excuses!"

Weiss recovered from her scare just in time to process what Ruby just said. "N-next time?" she asked timidly.

After realising what had just slipped out, Ruby looked back down to the table with a fresh red blush adorning her cheeks. "Uh-I mean- I thought that...yeah, tonight's been great and-" Ruby suddenly gasped and stopped her stuttering as she felt something on her hand. She looked up and locked eyes with Weiss, who was reaching over the table with her hand placed over Rubys. 

"It HAS been a great night Ruby, don't worry." Weiss said with a comforting smile "I'm certain there's going to be a next time." Ruby's nerves were instantly calmed as she looked into those soft blue eyes. The next few seconds were spent in silent conversation. Weiss' started idly rubbing her index finger in a small circular motion on Ruby's palm. Both girls realised that while they had only known eachother for less than a week, it seemed like they had been friends for ages. It may sound cliche, like something out of a fairytale, but Ruby at this point couldn't picture anyone else sat across from her on a date. Unfortunately for the young couple, the waitress chose this instant to come back with their chosen desserts in tow. The moment was shattered, and Weiss awkwardly coughed and removed her hand from it's resting place in order to grab the cheescakes. However Ruby couldn't tear her eyes away from Weiss. She watched her thank the waitress and place both of their desserts on their respective sides of the table. "Ruby? You okay?"

Weiss' words shook Ruby out of her daze. "Never better." She said, smiling at Weiss and taking her first spoonful of cheescake into her mouth. The two ate in comfortable silence for a short while, with not much more than the approving murmurs between them of how good the food was. Ruby looked out the window, prepared to gaze over the ocean once more, but was shocked to be met with her own reflection as the pitch black sky was all that was left outside. Time had flown for the girls, which was clearly a good sign. Ruby was eager to learn more about Weiss' huntress history before it was time to leave. "So I've gotta ask, what was your team like in Beacon? Having a team seems great but i'm worried i'd get sick of them after four years."

Weiss waited until she finished her current bite of food before answering. "You get used to it. Thankfully my team were very good. I'm not sure how much Yang might have told you about us, but Cardin left us fairly early into the first year, before the Vytal Festival in fact. It was just me, Jaune and Pyrrha for most of the time there." 

Ruby tilted her head in thought, like a lost puppy. "How did that work then? With a team of just 3 members?"

Weiss was quick to answer. "Well it wasn't too bad, I remember there was a lot of deliberation on the schools part on if they should disband the team or assign a teacher to work with us." Weiss snorted at the thought of that, which in turn caused Ruby to giggle. "That would have been a disaster!" she watched as Ruby took another chunk of food from her plate, clearly hanging onto every word Weiss was saying, so she continued with her story. "Thankfully, Blake's team stood up to the plate and offered to help fill in any gaps in the future, so because of them we were able to stay together normally." Weiss silently thanked Ozpin for letting them continue like normal, she shuddered to think how her father would have reacted if she ended up off the team.

"And that explains why you guys spent so much time together." Ruby said in understanding. 

"Yes, it also explains why we sadly not allowed to compete in the Vytal Festival." Now she was talking about her past, she started to feel a little guilty that she had not kept up with her classmates once Beacon was done with, and she mentally cursed her job for taking up so much of her time. She gave herself an ultimatum, if she was going to continue to date Ruby she would need to reconnect with Blake and Yang, much like she had with Pyrrha a few days ago. Before she put too much thought into it, she swiftly changed the subject and told herself to worry about Yang and Blake later. "But enough about me, tell me more about yourself Ruby. How long have you been into weapons?"

While Ruby did want to continue learning about Weiss' past, she figured it could wait. Weapons on the other hand, weapons are something she could easily talk about. "Oh for years now, like I said I got my start back in Signal, for me it was the most interesting thing we did there. I remember going home after my first few lessons and spending 3 days begging my uncle to let me pull apart his weapon." Ruby suppressed her laughter. "He finally let me have a go at it and the very first screw I pulled off it broke the blade of and and it almost cut the table in half." It was Weiss' turn to suppress a snort at the image. "Yeeaah he didn't let me near it for a good while after that."

"Why does it not surprise me that you were a troublemaker?" Weiss said teasingly.

Ruby instantly frowned. "Hey! I was just curious! There's nothing wrong with that!"

With a devilish smirk and a raised eyebrow, Weiss followed through. "Uh-huh, is that what your dad said to defend you?" In a flash, Ruby put a bit of leftover cream on the end of her spoon and took aim at Weiss. She quickly raised her arms to cover her face. "Don't you dare!" Weiss said, laughter in her voice. However Ruby didn't heed her warning, she released her finger from the spoon and catapulted the blob of cream across the table. Time seemed to slow down for the young troublemaker, as she watched Weiss lower her arms with a laugh, calling Ruby's bluff. Ruby gasped and raised her hands to her mouth, as the cream hit Weiss squarely in the face with a _splat_.

Ruby caught up with herself and watched in fear for a moment, as fresh cream dripped down off Weiss' nose and onto the table below her. Weiss' shocked expression was all Ruby needed to see to know that she messed up. "Sorry Weiss! I didn't mean to hit you in the face, I promise." She began to spew out, springing into action and grabbing a fresh napkin from the empty table behind them. She turned back around only to watch as Weiss pick up the cream with her finger and put it into her mouth.

"Mmm" She hummed. "It really is superb cheescake." She looked over at Ruby's shocked expression and gave her a quick wink. "I told you you were a troublemaker."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the bill was all paid up, both Weiss and Ruby left the restaurant in high spirits, Ruby was shocked at how late it had gotten, as they were no edging into the early hours of the morning. Thankfully it was the weekend, so she wouldn't be tired for work the next day. Weiss came prepared and had already called ahead so her driver was waiting outside to pick the girls up and take them home.

"Hey Weiss, do you have anywhere you need to be tomorrow?" Ruby asked, hoping that it wasn't too late for the clearly busy girl.

Once again Weiss held the door open for Ruby. "Nope! I'm free, why do you ask?" she replied curiously, surprised that Ruby was thinking of a second date so soon after the first one ended.

"Well if you don't mind can we stop off somewhere before we go home? I've got something I really wanna show you!" Ruby said after shuffling into a comfortable position in her seat.

Weiss eyed her wearily for a second. She really didn't have anywhere to be, and at the same time she didn't particularly want tonight to end. Maybe she would get her wish. "Of course Ruby, let me get in and you can tell the driver where to go." Weiss said, shutting the door and heading around to the other side of the car. Once she got in and fastened her seatbelt, she was about to ask Ruby for the address, when all of a sudden the car started moving. "Um, wait, I believe Ruby had-"

She was cut off with a hand on her shoulder. "It's OK Weiss, I told him while you were outside." She put a finger up to her lips "It's meant to be a surprise."

Weiss' nervous jitters came back, just as they were before. She felt embarassed about it but at the same time if this is what it is going to be like for the rest of her time with Ruby, then she wouldn't have it any other way.


	13. Showing Off

The trip back to downtown was much quicker than the outbound ride to the restaurant, due to complete absence of rush hour traffic. The atmosphere inside the back of the private taxi was electric to say the least, both girls chatting excitedly about how much of a good time they had. the date had been a resounding success, and Weiss expressed her sadness that it was coming to an end. However Ruby was quick to point out that the night wasn't over yet, which roused the butterflies in Weiss' stomach even more. She was sat upright, trying to guess their destination and attempting to pry the answer out of Ruby, but the younger girl kept her lips sealed insisting that she didn't want to ruin the surprise.

"Come on Ruby." Weiss tried "Just one hint!" she couldn't help but keep a smile off her lips.

She watched as Ruby leant fully back into her seat, suppressing some rouge giggles. "It's just something I want to show you, that's all, i'm not giving you any more than that!" Weiss leant over and gave her a playful swat on her knee "Hey!" Ruby snapped forward, rubbing her knee lightly. 

"I barely touched you." Weiss scoffed. Ruby whined and looked up into Weiss' eyes, putting on her best pouting face. Weiss glared back at her and gave her a scowl. However she could only keep her act up for so long before she started to break into a smile, Ruby's unfaltering expression wearing away at her defences. "Don't give me that look! You're keeping me in the dark...it's..." Weiss trailed off while maintaining her gaze.

It was at that moment that Ruby sniffed back some fake tears and Weiss simply couldn't hold it anymore. She burst into laughter and pushed Ruby away from her with both hands. "You're insufferable!"

Ruby returned with her own bout of laughter, allowing herself to be pushed back into the corner of her seat. "Hey! If i'm that bad what does that make you?" Was Ruby's retort.

"Clearly i'm a glutton for punishment." Weiss replied in a deadpan tone. Ruby just stuck her tounge out at her from across the car, and Weiss thought it was the most adorable thing that she had ever seen. She looked away and out the window to try and conceal her blushing red cheeks, all the while hearing giddy laughter from behind her. She decided there was no use in hiding it, and turned back around only to see that Ruby was just watching her with a big dopey smile on her face.

"So, this thing you're so desperate to show me..." Weiss began, holding her gaze with Ruby in an attempt to get the conversation back on track.

"I'm still not telling you what it is!" Ruby was quick to respond. "It's just...it's something that means a lot to me, that's all." Ruby smile dropped ever so slightly, which told Weiss that no matter what she needed to take this seriously.

Weiss placed her hand on Ruby's arm comfortingly. "Alright Ruby, no more questions, i'm excited to see whatever it is." 

"Thanks Weiss." Ruby replied. She peered out the window, her solemn mood shifting back into glee. "Oh oh we're almost there!"

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

The car finally began to slow down, grinding to halt just slightly onto the curb. 

"Oh, let me get that for you!" Ruby quickly hopped out of the car and sped around to Weiss' door. She opened it up and Weiss gracefully stepped out. She was about to turn her head to see where they had ended up, but Ruby swiftly put a stop to that by coming in close behind her and putting one hand over her eyes. 

Ruby then softly grabbed Weiss' shoulder with her free hand and gently guided her around the car. "Hey-" Weiss started, but was quickly shushed by Ruby.

Once the pair came to a stop, Ruby removed her hand from Weiss' eyes and grandly gestured to the building in front of them. "Ta daaa!"

Weiss blinked, instantly recognizing the small familiar building in front of them as Ruby's workplace. "Ruby, why are we here?"

Ruby hopped around excitedly in front of Weiss, and offered her a warm smile. "Like I said" she started, grabbing Weiss' arm once more and carefully pulling her towards the entrance of Opals. "There's something I wanna show you!" Weiss let herself get pulled with little to no resistance, eager to see what Ruby had planned. Once they reached the front doors of the workshop, Ruby let her arm go and reached her hand into the small purse she was carrying, fumbling around for a moment before pulling out a large red keyring adorned with a rose. She shook the keys with success in front of her date's amused stare, and promptly shoved one of the keys into the doors lock.

The door creaked open, and Ruby jogged into the building ahead of Weiss. "Hold that pose! I'll be right back!" Weiss chuckled, once again being surprised at how joyful Ruby could act at the drop of a hat. She wondered the dark empty waiting room, marvelling at how different the place seemed during the day. The fact the lights were off and herself and Ruby were alone made the whole scene feel oddly romantic. The silence really added to the effect, making Weiss feel like it was just the two of them in the whole world. 

After a few seconds of silent thought, Ruby re-emerged from the back room wheeling an old office chair towards the white haired girl at breakneck speed. She skidded to a halt, spinning the chair around with a flourish. "Take a seat! i'll be back in a second!" Ruby's enthusiastic attitude was starting to rub off on Weiss, as she practically leapt onto onto the chair, her momentum causing it to start spinning. She ran her foot along the ground to slow the chair to halt, before manually spinning it around to face to front desk, catching a glimpse of the back of Ruby's head disappearing once more into the bowels of the workshop. Weiss had a quiet moment of introspection, realizing that she was feeling the most carefree tonight than she held felt in a very long time. She started to think that moving away from her team and her friends and returning the life of 12 hour office days was the source of her unhappiness. After all, she started to feel a lot better when she finally arranged that meeting with Pyrrha. Before she could dwell on these newfound feelings for too long, Ruby appeared behind the counter, hiding something behind her back.

She walked around to in front of the desk, and Weiss pushed her chair back slightly to give her some extra room. On an ordinary day Weiss hated being out of the loop for things like this, however even though she didn't know exactly what she was in store for, it didn't bother her as much as it normally would. She was leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, keenly waiting on Ruby to begin what was starting to look like a performance. It didn't take long for her patience to pay off as Ruby swung her hands around to show off what she was holding. 

"Behold!" Ruby grandly announced. Weiss squinted her eyes in the darkness, just about making out the shape of a long red rectangle. She looked past the strange object to see Ruby sporting a big grin. She took that as her cue, reaching up and flicking a small button on the side of the rectangle. Weiss shot her eyes open in awe as in one swift motion the red block folded outwards with a long handle protruding out of one end. The other end unfurled even further, the remaining large chunk of metal on that side unfolding to reveal a short curved blade. "This" Ruby said once the mechanical parts stopped shifting around "is Crescent Rose!" She spun the weapon in her hands a few times before slamming the handle onto the carpeted floor, letting the weapon stand triumphantly at it's full length.

Weiss had a quizzical look on her face by the end of the display. "It's a...scythe?"

Without missing a beat, Ruby flicked a different button on Crescent Rose. This time the blade retreated into itself, and in it's place came a long rifle barrel. A small scope popped out of the long edge of the weapon, which was yet another cue for the armed girl. Ruby spun her prized possession around a few times in her hand before bringing the scope up to her eye and aiming it at where Weiss was sitting. "It's also a gun!" She said heroically.

Weiss was sure that if she had blinked she would have missed the entire transformation. She carefully stood up from her seat and took a few small steps towards Ruby. "Wow it's certainly...something." Weiss commented, unsure of herself. Ruby lowered the scope from her eye, professionally holding the weapon at her side.

"Do you not like it?" Ruby almost mumbled, and Weiss could have sworn she almost heard heartbreak in her voice. 

Afraid that she had said something wrong, Weiss quickly raised both her hands and tried to correct herself. "No no, I love it, it looks great, it's just..." she lowered her hands down and outstretched her palms, gesturing slightly towards the weapon. Ruby took the hint and raised Crescent Rose up, giving to Weiss for inspection. "I don't know why you're showing me this, does it belong to an important client?" 

Weiss' gaze was tilted down, firmly locked on the rifle in her hands, so she didn't notice Ruby's crestfallen face at that last comment. She watched as Weiss turned the weapon around a few times, bringing it closer to her eyes and examining the various components. "No Weiss, it's just mine." Ruby said softly.

She was quickly knocked out of her stupor when Weiss suddenly screeched out a hearty "WHAT?!" and accidentally flung Ruby's weapon into the air. Before both girls could react, Ruby still recovering from her scare and Weiss from her shock, the half folded Scythe fell inbetween the two girls and landed on the floor with a mighty _clang_. Both girls fruitlessly covered their ears, the damage already being done. They glanced at eachother, then down at the red metal below them. Weiss was the first to react, quickly bending her knees down and picking up the weapon. "Oh my gods, i'm sorry Ruby." She started dusting off the weapon with her free hand while flipping it around looking for any signs of damage. "I just didn't expect that, I mean-"

Ruby quickly laid her hands on her weapon. "Weiss, it's ok" she cut Weiss off, if only to get her to stop apologizing. "I'm sure she's fine, weapons are meant to take a beating." Weiss nodded and let Ruby take her weapon back. She quickly pushed a button on the side, folding the scope and the barrel back into the rest of it, returning it to it's portable state. She turned and started to head into the back room.

"Wait, Ruby?" Weiss called after her, causing her to stop and turn back around. "What do you mean it's yours?"

Ruby nodded silently "it's my weapon, I built it." and watched as Weiss' eyes went wide.

"You built that?" Ruby furrowed her eyebrows and nodded once more. "From scratch?"

Ruby turned her body fully around and nodded a third time. But before Weiss could ask another question, she quickly asked one of her own. "Weiss, where are you going with this?"

Weiss stepped forward closing the gap between them. "Ruby, if I had known you had built this yourself I would have had a much grander reaction." She reached forward, offering her open palms again and smiling up at the young mechanic. "I promise I won't drop it this time." Ruby acquiesced with a smile of her own and handed Crescent Rose to Weiss a second time. "I knew you had skill, but Ruby, this is insane." The comment caused Ruby to giggle, and Weiss released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. 

"Do you really mean that?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Of course I do, Ruby I thought you were showing me some random huntsman weapon that you got given a few days ago." Weiss spun the crimson block in her hands, her eyes finally settling on the row of buttons on the side. "Which one do I...?" She vaguely asked, gesturing to them.

Ruby leant forwards and pointed to the largest one at the end of the row "It's that one, just make sure-" She placed a hand on the grip of the weapon, right on top of Weiss' hand that was holding on to the very same grip. She angled it slightly higher and to the left of where they were standing. "to aim it that way, I don't want you losing an arm!"

Weiss lazily let Ruby maneuver the weapon, focusing far more on the hand contact than her explanation. Ruby let go of Crescent Rose, hopping back slightly to give Weiss some room. She shook her head and quickly recovered from the accidental hand holding, gripping the weapon firmly and pushing in the button. She suddenly felt her grip loosen as the long shaft shot outwards towards the empty space next to her. She wasn't going to break her promise, and tightened her grip on the scythe's handle determined to keep a hold of it. The mechanical whirring stopped just as fast as it had began, and she looked down the length of the weapon to see that the blade had been successfully deployed. 

Ruby started applauding, causing Weiss' cheeks to start glowing from embarrassment. "Nice one Weiss!" Ruby cheered her on. Weiss put on her best smile and looked up to meet Ruby's own. Weiss struggled to raise the scythe up to a standing position, almost dropping it in the process.

"How on Remnant do you carry this thing so easily?" Weiss asked, intending the question to be rhetorical. 

Ruby shrugged and reached over to take her weapon back. "I got a lot of scythe training from my Uncle, he's the reason I wanted to use one." Ruby lifted it with ease, returning to the heroic pose from before. "Plus all this muscle helps!" Ruby said with a wink, flexing her other arm causing Weiss to suddenly start laughing.

"When you do things like that, I can easily believe Yang's your sister." She watched Ruby shut her eyes with a cheesy grin in a splitting image of Yang from years ago. If Weiss didn't know any better she would be certain she was doing it on purpose. "So Ruby, why exactly were you so desperate to show me this? I already knew you were a good mechanic."

Ruby sheepishly looked down at the ground, all the confidence she was just showing fading away in an instant. She began to explain her thought process, speaking so fast Weiss could barely keep up "I know this is dumb, but I was thinking about what we were talking about before. I didn't want you to think I was useless for flunking out of Beacon." She gestured to her scythe "I just wanted to show you that I could do something, you know, cool. And that i'm not..." Ruby drifted off after seeing Weiss' annoyed expression "Weiss, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because, dolt, you don't have anything to prove to me, you're being silly." She took a few steps towards Ruby, trying her best to get another smile out of her. "Trust me, I already know you're amazing. Besides you didn't flunk out of Beacon, you failed initiation. Ruby even getting to that point in the first place is no small feat." She was close enough now that she could smell the strawberry perfume that Ruby had worn for the night. She raised her arm and placed a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Besides, you've already proven that you're a stellar mechanic-" Weiss' entire speech was thrown off when Ruby suddenly wrapped her arms around her waist and squeezed her tight. Her heart broke when she heard sniffles coming from the younger girl, the stress building up throughout the night finally getting to her. Weiss returned the hug in equal force.

"Thank you Weiss, I think I really needed to hear that." Ruby croaked out. Weiss just held her closer, letting the intimate moment play out in it's entirety. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Weiss walked out of the workshop, checking her scroll only to see that she had wildly overestimated how long she was going to be out tonight. Both girls had agreed that it was time to call it a night, and after a heartfelt goodbye, went their separate ways. Weiss offered Ruby a lift back to her place, but she assured her that it was a short walk, so Weiss re-entered the car alone and asked to be returned to the SDC building. She had been through the emotional wringer, and it was wearing away at her slowly, she was tired from the excitement of the night and exhausted by the heavy emotions that were brought forward. So when her scroll dinged a few times in rapid succession she cursed under her breath, knowing that she couldn't ignore it since it could have been important work information.

However the last emotion she expected to feel was shock, as when she looked at the message a very familiar name had popped up.

Yang Xiao-Long: Hey Weiss, long time no speak  
Yang Xiao-Long: A little birdy told me you're the one hooking up with my sister  
Yang Xiao-Long: Congratulations! are you free tomorrow?  
Yang Xiao-Long: We need to talk

Weiss sighed. Evidently Ruby couldn't keep her lips sealed about tonight. She knew that she would have spoken to Yang eventually anyway, but she had hoped it was on her terms. She typed back a message, prepared to have a full conversation and not get to sleep anytime soon. But she smiled besides herself. Last nights events made it all worth it.


	14. Reunion

The young couple's embrace lasted longer than either of them were expecting, both silently coming to the realization that they were starved for attention in very different ways. Weiss very much needed somebody who put some fun back into her life, someone to break the monotony of seemingly never ending work weeks and constant video calls. The Vale trip was a good distraction but she was dreading the return to Atlas with each passing week, and had very little time to enjoy herself.

Ruby meanwhile had grown complacent living alone, taking on the weight of the world on her own shoulders, and being all the worse for wear for it. She had a cushy job, a cozy apartment and a loving family sure, but those things only carried her so far, and in her down periods she often found herself doodling in her notebook or tinkering with weapons, patiently waiting for her next shift to start. She always thought she hated the idea of human interaction, only really speaking to customers or her sister and Blake, but since Weiss had entered the picture her mindset began to change.

Rather than shy away from the intricate detailed talk in favour of dropping off their weapon and hightailing it out of there, Weiss was a pleasure to work with. She was soft spoken, and showed a genuine interest in what Ruby's plans were for her precious rapier.

Neither girl wanted to break the hug, but Weiss knew that she was getting drowsy and desperately needed some sleep. With one final pat on the back Weiss pulled away, almost immediately missing the warmth the contact was providing. Ruby headed towards the door first, opening it up for Weiss to step into the cold evening air. Ruby turned, shutting the doors behind her and locking them firmly back up. "Thanks again Weiss." Ruby reiterated her thoughts about the night. "I had such a good time!"

"As did I, I look forward to next time." Weiss was quick to agree, reaching out to offer Ruby a firm handshake. The silver eyed girl turned away from the door and glanced down at Weiss' outstretched hand. She looked back up, her expression quickly softening. Weiss almost lowered her arm in dejection, but an instant later Ruby had wrapped her arms around Weiss once more, squeezing her tightly.

Weiss began blushing at the unexpected contact, but quickly returned the favour, raising her hands up to grab Ruby's waist, mirroring their actions from inside the workshop. "I'm free tonight, if you're up for spending a bit more time together?" Ruby subtly offered.

Weiss hesitated for a moment, before figuring out that tonight was correct as they were in the early hours of the morning at this point. "That sounds lovely." Weiss said. She pulled back from the hug, and could have sworn she heard a small whimper come from Ruby as she did so. She gestured her head towards the waiting car behind her. "Come, let's get out of the cold, we'll discuss it on the way back to yours."

Ruby shook her head, earning a confused look from Weiss. "I need to go for a walk, clear my head a little." She said, a light chuckle escaping her lips. "I'll message you about tonight?" Ruby meekly offered.

"Are you sure you'll be safe?" Weiss asked once Ruby finished explaining.

The concern was unexpected, but Ruby knew it was genuine. "I'll be fine, it's like 10 minute walk back home."

Weiss didn't push it any further. With one final goodbye, she turned and stepped into the taxi. Ruby watched her go, and waited until it sped round the corner, before jumping up and down on the spot giggling to herself. She awkwardly stopped, surprising herself with her own giddiness. At this time in the morning, she'd normally be either close to passing out, or already in the safety of her own bed. After the excitement that was last night though, she was more awake than ever. She took a glance back towards her workplace, smiling at the memory of her and Weiss' first meeting, before turning on her heels and heading home. She absentmindedly checked her scroll a few minutes later, only to see an unread message that had arrived last night. Ruby had no doubt that she was distracted by one of Weiss' tales at the time. 

Yang: Hey sis! How's the date going?

Ruby cringed inwardly, realizing that Yang would probably have started getting worried with the lack of replies. She typed out a response as quick as she could, to set both their minds at ease.

You: Yang! sorry for the late reply!  
You: we were busy, she only just left  
You: The workshop! left the workshop I mean, we've only hugged I swear  
You: it went great!

Ruby thought to herself that she needed to slow down and think before she sent messages, she'd been told enough times by the rest of her family, but she knew full well she'd never do it. She was about to plop her scroll back into her purse, when the short message jingle went off almost instantly. 

Yang: Oh? Are you sure you're not leaving out some juicy details? 😉  
Yang: Anyway, i'm glad to hear you're not ignoring me  
Yang: So tell me the deets, how'd it go? Is this mysterious girl cool?

Ruby rolled her eyes at Yang's teasing, but smiled despite herself. She was honestly surprised to get a reply so quickly, but she figured Yang must have stayed awake worrying despite how chill she played it off in the messages. It took her a moment to remember that while Weiss' identity had been revealed to her, Yang hadn't got the memo yet. Excitement swelled inside Ruby at the thought of breaking the news to Yang and getting her reaction. 

You: Yaaang gross!  
You: The date went great! we've already agreed to see eachother again!  
You: But I bet you won't believe me if I tell you who it is

She opted not to bother putting her scroll away this time and moved her way over to a nearby wall, leaning her back against it. It didn't take long to get Yang's response.

Yang: Already got another one planned huh? you little devil 😈  
Yang: Maybe not, but if it's someone famous you're bringing them to meet us for sure!

Ruby chuckled at that last comment, already well aware that she would want to see Weiss in person anyway as soon as she found out that it was her. 

You: Nope, no-one famous, it's someone you know though  
You: Turns out I scored myself a date with Weiss Schnee

Ruby broke the news with a grin on her face, expecting a whole manner of different replies heading her way. 

Yang: Weiss the ice queen??  
Yang: Wait you're going out with the ice queen?!

Ruby smirked at the reply. Hook, line, and sinker

You: Yup! it's a small world huh?

She replaced her scroll into her purse and started to head home, practically skipping the entire way back. She hadn't heard a message sound for a few minutes, so she started to get worried that Yang had passed out from shock, but it was at this point she got her reply. She waited until she reached the front door of her apartment before checking her scroll, only to be surprised to see Weiss' name instead of her sisters.

Weiss ❄: Ruby, did you tell Yang about you and me?

Ruby gulped, she didn't know Weiss well enough to gauge if she was really mad or not. She opted for the safe play of cute innocence, something Ruby knew she could pull off with ease.

You: Um, should I not have? Oops 😅

Satisfied that she had defused the situation, Ruby headed inside her place and sat down at the table in her admittedly cramped kitchen, kicking off her bothersome heels that had been making her feet ache for the better part of the night. She already started missing Weiss, knowing that if she saw how aggressive she was with her shoes there would have been a witty remark about Ruby's suffering. She smiled at the thought. She eventually stood up and made a beeline for her enticing looking bed, snuggling up in the covers and replaying the last few hours of the night in her head until sleep eventually took over.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Weiss stepped into her living room, releasing a deep sigh as she collapsed onto the couch. She hadn't quite realized how exhausted she was until seeing the familiarity of her temporary home.

She slowly brought herself to her feet and began heading to her bed, before catching sight of Myrtenasters display case, still resting on the kitchen counter top where she had left it. She rubbed her hand along the top, once again marvelling at it's perfect glossy finish and expertly engraved name. Despite the small brunette's objections this was one of the most thoughtful things Weiss had ever received. And she knew she had to do something special to pay her back. 

She practically glided over to her bedroom, quickly changing into her nightgown and lying down into the comfy washed bedsheets. Sleep didn't take long to claim her.

When Weiss woke up the next morning, she felt a certain excited drive inside her, something she hasn't felt for quite some time. She actually had things to do today, many plans to put into motion, and many things she felt compelled to do. The first thing on the agenda was to get washed and dressed, she was paying a visit to her old classmates.

She wasted no time leaving her apartment and heading to Yang's place, after getting the address from her during the car ride back the night prior she was relieved to find her and Blake lived close by. 

On her way there her scroll buzzed with a message from Ruby, presumably she had just woken up.

Ruby Rose: Morning Weiss  
Ruby Rose: sorry if I went too far last night  
Ruby Rose: it's just I tell Yang everything and last night was really special to me and yeah  
Ruby Rose: sorry if you didnt want her to know  
Ruby Rose: And sorry if this woke you up!!

Weiss chuckled under her breath, getting used to her energetic way of sending messages in a chain. It reflected the way she acted in person almost perfectly. The little speech bubble popped up, but Weiss intervened before she received another barrage of messages

You: It's okay Ruby honestly, I was going to talk to Yang eventually anyway.  
You: If you send messages any faster you're going to crash my scroll.  
You: This wasn't cheap, you know! :P

She smiled at the messages despite her feigned annoyance. She saw the message bubble disappear for only a moment, before showing up again in full force. She put her scroll back into her jacket pocket, intending on reading and replying to Ruby later. She had more pressing matters to attend to right now.

Weiss hadn't quite caught her own nervousness until she was a few feet away from the front door of her friends apartment, noticing her shaky hand reaching up for the buzzer. She grabbed it with her other free hand, steadying it. She took a deep breath then pushed the buzzer. Since Yang was expecting her, the speaker flared to life in no time with a crackly voice on the other end. "Who is it?" 

Weiss froze upon hearing the question, it had been so long since she heard Yang's voice she almost didn't recognize it. "It's Weiss." she simply said in return.

"Weeeiisss! It's been so long! i'll buzz you in!" the sudden shrillness of Yang's voice made her wince. It had taken her a while to see the similarities between the two sisters, but after spending so much time with Ruby she realized just how obvious it was. The little buzz sound indicated that the main building door was now unlocked, so Weiss stepped in and headed for the closest door in front of her, which she had been told last night was Yang and Blake's place, and gave it a short knock. It opened after only a moment of shuffling to reveal her old friend and classmate. Who proceeded to instantly pull Weiss into a hug. "Awww Weiss! We've missed you!"

Since Weiss was currently being crushed, she had a hard time getting her words out. "I-I've missed you too Yang" she miraculously managed to squeeze out, reaching her arms around the blonde brawler and returning the hug. When Yang finally let her go, Weiss looked over her shoulder at a raven haired cat faunus currently sat on a reclining chair with one foot on a coffee table in front of her, lacing up a pair of combat boots. "Hi Blake, long time no see." Weiss offered with a small wave in her direction.

Her heart was warmed as Blake returned the wave and put on a warm smile. "Hey Weiss, it's good to see you again!"

Yang stepped backwards allowing Weiss to enter their living room. "How've you been Weiss? We haven't seen you since, what, graduation?" She glanced over to Blake, who simply nodded in affirmation.

Weiss' smile faded as she gave a small bow towards Yang. "Yeah, i'm sorry it's been so long since I've caught up with you two. Things have been...hectic."

She was surprised when Yang just began chuckling. "It's all good Wesscicle, life has a way of doing that." She shot an award winning grin Weiss' way. "I'm just surprised it took you hooking up with my sister for us to reconnect."

Blake matched Yang's laugh with a giggle of her own from behind her. "Yang I- for the last time, i'm not hooking up with Ruby!" Weiss chirped out, surprising herself with her own embarrassment.

A firm hand was placed on her shoulder. "All this time and you're still easy to wind up." Yang smirked. Weiss poked her tongue out at her, causing another bout of laughs from the couple. 

Yang turned back to Blake just as she began to stand up. "You all ready to go? We've gotta leave if we're gonna make it to the bullhead." 

"Ready as i'll ever be." Confirmed Blake. Yang picked up her gauntlets and snapped them to her wrists, while Blake grabbed her katana and strapped it onto her back. Weiss had arranged to catch up with both of her old friends, but the thought of sitting in their house not doing much of anything made her antsy. So she pulled the same trick she did with Pyrrha, taking them for a session at Beacon Academy for the three of them to train and fight much like they had been in the past. The small group headed out, with Blake locking the door of their apartment on the way. Weiss was nervous about all the things they needed to catch up on, the elephant in the room being the fact she was currently dating Yang's sister. She was hoping they wouldn't ask too many questions before they got to the training rooms.

Having something to fight would take the edge off.


End file.
